This page explains what you and your child can expect when coming to the children's intensive care unit.
Children usually come to the children's intensive care unit as part of their care within Evelina London Children's Hospital or from their local hospital. Some children come to the unit following an accident or emergency. Others are admitted electively because of the nature of the procedure they are having or something specific to them. Children arriving following an emergency admission to another hospital are usually brought to us by the South Thames Retrieval Service (STRS), a specialist service for transporting critically ill children.
Appointments and planned procedures
Some children have PICU admissions planned as part of their surgery. If you need to change or cancel your child's surgery for any reason, please contact the surgical team directly. Please tell us as soon as possible so we can offer the best service to your child and to others. Very occasionally we may have to delay planned procedures if there are no beds available in the intensive care unit.
Please bring along your child's red book (personal child health record) and a list of any medicines your child is taking. You may want to bring the medicines along with you so that the exact formulation can be checked and potentially continued during your child's stay.
Pre-admission visits
If your child is having a planned operation, the team caring for your child can arrange a visit to see the intensive care unit beforehand. This usually lasts about 30 minutes and gives you and your child a chance to become familiar with the intensive care environment. These visits can be arranged at short notice. To arrange a visit, please speak to the team caring for your child.
Teaching hospital
We are a teaching hospital, so students and visitors may be observing the team. We are proud to be training intensive care clinicians and nurses to the highest possible standards. As such, appropriately supervised staff members will be involved in caring for your child.
Accommodation
We will provide you with accommodation while your child is staying with us in intensive care, although we can't always guarantee accommodation for more than one parent or carer. We may also be able to offer accommodation for brothers or sisters if a room is available. Find out more about Forest ward.
After PICU
After leaving PICU, patients are handed over to the ward based specialist teams on the children's wards at Evelina London or transferred to your local hospital. For more information, see our leaflet What to expect when your child is transferred from PICU (1.15Mb). This provides a useful guide for you and your child about what happens when you leave PICU to go to a ward.
When your child leaves intensive care we will send a copy of the discharge summary (hospital notes about your child's treatment) to the referring hospital doctor or GP. You are also able to access some of your child's hospital care records on MyChart.
What to do if you're worried that your child is getting worse in hospital
All the wards at Evelina London Children’s Hospital are working to deliver the safest care possible. Part of this work is making sure we understand your concerns. The hospital has a Martha’s rule policy.
If you are worried that your child is getting worse:
- First, speak to the team caring for your child
- If, after speaking to the care team, you are still worried and feel your concerns are not being addressed, call 020 7188 6404 for a rapid review.