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How did we do?
Together for parents and families in distress
Life can be turned upside down in an instant when
a loved one is suddenly admitted to King’s. But
recent projects, funded by the Charity, are offering
patients and families help, care and compassion to
ease distress and support long-term recovery.
the CCU, the team has received a positive response
from staff, patients and families. In the team's survey
of patients and families in February 2022, 95% of
respondents rated the service positively, with 86%
giving it the highest possible rating.
Meeting the psychosocial needs of patients
and families in critical care
Respondents particularly valued how the team
responded swiftly to make the crisis and experience of
critical care more manageable. This included not just
support to mitigate the experience itself but emotional
and practical assistance to manage its ongoing impact,
as patient DH's story illustrates.
More than half of all patients admitted to critical
care experience acute distress and suffer long-term
psychological impact, ranging from mild cognitive
impairment to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Critical care patients and their families often require
support with both their psychological and social
needs, including help with difficult decision making,
end of life planning, subsistence arrangements or
emergency childcare.
To address this growing need, which has been
exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Charity
funded a pilot programme for a multidisciplinary
psychosocial team, who began taking referrals from
King’s critical care unit (CCU) in June 2021. In the
first eleven months of operation, the team, which
brings together a consultant psychiatrist, two clinical
psychologists, a social worker and a support worker,
has already seen and assessed 840 patients. While most
received support from either psychology, social work or
psychiatry, 275 received support from a combination of
disciplines, and, in six cases, from the whole team.
Despite having to adapt traditional psychosocial
interventions to suit the rapidly changing world of
20
S U P P O R T K I N G S .O R G .U K
Working together to support patients
experiencing trauma
DH was seventy-two years old when he was admitted
to critical care following an unexpected complication
during a planned surgery. His experience in a war zone
in the 1990s and the death of one of his sons in a road
traffic accident six years ago had led to a previous
diagnosis of PTSD.
During his three weeks in critical care, DH experienced
delirium, including trying to pull out his IV lines, putting
himself at risk of serious bleeding, and shouting and
crying out, especially at night. He was referred to the
psychosocial team for help with his distress and ongoing
delirium. When the team assessed him, ongoing fatigue
was an issue and DH told them about his poor sleep due
to nightmares and flashbacks. There was a real concern
from the team and his family about his psychological
wellbeing.
King's psychosocial team, from left:
Dr Jennifer Black, Rachel Welsh,
Dr Sarah Ashurst-Williams, Hugh Baillie,
Dr Christian Williams.
