A survey of adult general high dependency units in the United Kingdom

Objective: Future development of intermediate care may be improved if more is known about the facilities and standards of existing high dependency units (HDUs). Design and setting: Postal survey of all free standing adult general HDUs in the United Kingdom. Interventions: The survey identified organizational aspects of the units and the availability of equipment and facilities for patient support. Endpoints: Forty-three adult general HDUs with a total compliment of 165 beds were identified. Measurements and main results: The median number of beds in HDU was four but units below this size had the greatest number of unstaffed beds. At present, 16% of available high dependency care beds are unstaffed. The mean number of nurses per staffed bed was 3.3 which corresponds to a nurse: patient ratio of 1:2.2. The units treat an average of 486 patients for 3.2 days per annum. Certain monitoring, organ support equipment and treatment facilities appear to be consistently available in over 90% of units. Conclusions: T...