ICU at The Princess Grace Hospital: Specialised care for the critically ill

At the Princess Grace we are set up to deliver enhanced patient care and the hospital benefits from a state-of-the-art Intensive Care Unit, with an integrated High-Dependency Unit and a ward level Critical Care Outreach Team, for those patients who require extra monitoring in a traditional ward setting.

Our nine-bedded unit is staffed by dedicated Critical Care nurses, managed by a senior clinical manager and overseen by 2 experienced ICU Consultants in the role as unit co-directors. There is a specialist Resident Doctor on site dedicated to the unit 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. All patient care, including daily review plans, are Consultant Led. All our staff are highly trained in the Critical Care environment.

The team are experienced at managing both medical and surgical patients providing all levels of organ support .

• Management and Optimisation of the High Risk Surgical Patient
• Perioperative Advanced Pain support: insertion and management of Epidurals
• Cardiovascular support: Cardiac Output Monitoring using industry leading equipment such as the LidCo Haemodynamic Monitoring System, Inotrope delivery
• Advanced Respiratory Support: High flow oxygen (Optiflow), Difficult airway cases, Mechanical Ventilation (including Tracheostomy support and long term weaning assistance)
• Renal Haemofiltration
• Critical Care support for investigations: Echocardiography, Neurophysiology include electroencephalogram, CT +/- contrast, MRI, Endoscopy suites

Our unit also has close links to other HCA UK sites where we can co-ordinate delivery of:

• Immunofiltration
• Advanced investigations: MRI for ventilated patients, Coronary angiography, Cerebral angiography 

With an embedded Consultant body consisting of Clinicians with established careers in intensive care units in London we can also liaise with other Critical Care Units in the city to provide the following services as required:

• Advanced Liver Failure Support
• Mechanical Assist Devices
• ExtraCoporeal Membrane Oxygenation or Removal of CO2

Our Consultant lead is an original founding member of the Centre for Perioperative Medicine at University College London. We pride ourselves on world leading perioperative care influenced by up to date evidence from cutting edge research in the field carried out by the Perioperative Team. We aim to support every patient from the moment they contemplate surgery to the end of their recovery journey.

The Resident Doctors on the unit have all had more than a decade of clinical experience with several years in Anaesthesia and Critical Care. They are all independent practitioners with a wealth of experience. We run competitive academic Fellowships where Resident Doctors are supported through higher degrees such as PhDs and MBAs in partnership with University College London.

Resident Doctors also work closely with our Clinical Informatics team at HCA UK to continuous review our patient outcomes and inform Quality Improvement initiatives. Research underway by our current RDs include Risk Statification and Prediction in Maternal Cardiac Patients, Mitochondrial responses in Critical Illness, Predicting Unplanned and Readmissions to Critical Care, and Clinical Improvement and Streamlining of Pre-Assessment Services for Surgical Patients.

Dr Cheryl Achary
Dr Achary is the Lead Critical Care Resident Doctor for Critical Care at the PGH and the Deputy Lead Resident Doctor at the PGH. She is a HEE senior trainee in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, and a Fellow of the Royal College of Anaesthesia. She trained in Edinburgh and received an MRC Studentship for a Public Health higher degree at the University of Cambridge.

She is currently in her second year of her PhD and she is developing a Risk Prediction and Communication Tool for Maternal Cardiac Patients in London. She is also the Pre-Assessment Liaison, working under the close oversight of Professor Walker.