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Seahorse Intensive Care Unit

 

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Bristol Royal Hospital for Children

Paediatric Intensive Care Unit

 

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Description of service

The regional centre for intensive care for children ranging in age from term newborn infants to 16 years of age across all subspecialties for the South West of England (Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, former Avon area, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall); paediatric cardiac intensive care for children from South Wales. A retrieval service run from the intensive care unit is also available to transfer critically ill children to the unit from across South West England. Critically ill children in South Wales with a cardiac diagnosis are also collected and transferred to Bristol by the retrieval service.

Areas of excellence

Paediatric and cardiac critical care.

Conditions treated

All clinical conditions in children requiring intensive care support, including children being treated by the following paediatric subspecialties:

  • cardiology,
  • cardiac surgery,
  • respiratory,
  • neurology,
  • neurosurgery,
  • haematology/oncology and bone marrow transplant,
  • endocrinology and metabolic medicine, nephrology including renal transplantation,
  • gastroenterology,
  • infectious diseases,
  • general surgery,
  • ENT surgery,
  • trauma and orthopaedic surgery, plastic surgery and burns.
  • neonatal surgery

Treatments offered

  • Invasive ventilation via endotracheal tube; both conventional and high-frequency ventilation available
  • Non-invasive ventilation via mask or nasal prongs
  • Inhaled nitric oxide for pulmonary hypertension
  • Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) to provide cardiac support via modified cardiac bypass for post-operative cardiac surgical children
  • Intracranial pressure monitoring
  • Continuous electroencephalogram (EEG) monitoring
  • Renal support by peritoneal dialysis or haemofiltration/haemodialysis

General contact details

Unit direct line: 0117 342 8546.