Ipswich: Patient survival rate in Ipswich Hospital’s critical care ward is among best in country

Ipswich Hospital’s critical care team has the second best patient survival rates in the country, new statistics reveal.

The Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre (ICNARC) has published its annual data on death rates (known as mortality ratios), which shows that the hospital’s mortality rates of critical care patients are low.

Dr Mark Garfield, a consultant in intensive care medicine and anaesthesia, said: “Our success is down to the continuity of care from our consultant-led team.

“We are a 24/7, 365 days a year consultant service and are proud of the high-standards of patient safety we provide.

“The ICNARC data is published annually and in the 13 years I’ve worked here we have always been in the top 10%, but this is the best we’ve done. We are very proud.”

Each year the hospital’s critical care unit, based in the Garrett Anderson Centre, cares for just fewer than 1,000 patients.

The consultant team – consisting of Dr Garfield, Dr Paul Carroll, Dr Rob Lewis, Dr Kate Turner, Dr Richard Howard-Griffin and Dr Richard Lloyd – work tandem shifts so the same doctors see patients for several days in a row, with overlap to allow full clinical handovers.

The new statistics show that for every 100 patients expected to die when admitted to an average critical care unit, only 70 would die in Ipswich.