BPS joins call to ensure community rehabilitation for all intensive care patients

Launched to mark National ICU Rehabilitation Day, the campaign is supported by organisations who represent those who care for intensive care patients, and wants to ensure all intensive care patients have access to multi-disciplinary community rehabilitation.

In an open letter to the Health Secretary, the group say it is vital that patients are not left to face their recovery alone, without support or information to help them recover.

A recent editorial in the British Medical Journal(link is external) has highlighted that many patients are not receiving the support they need after they leave hospital.

Dr Roman Raczka, chair of the BPS' Division of Clinical Psychology, said:

We are fully supportive of this new campaign from ICUSteps and we are proud to lend our voice to this important cause.

Psychological support is a vital component of care and rehabilitation once people leave intensive care, people may feel anxious, lonely, confused and struggle not only to process what has happened to them, but how to rebuild their lives. We must ensure joined-up support is available to everyone who needs it. Intensive care may save lives, but it is the rehabilitation which helps put them back together.

The campaign is encouraging people to sign a parliamentary petition asking the government to ensure that all intensive care patients, regardless of admission cause, are provided with comprehensive multidisciplinary community rehabilitation.