Advancing monitoring in critical care

At a new, state-of-the-art specialist and critical care centre in South Wales, an advanced patient monitoring solution is supporting care for some of the most critically ill patients – throughout the pandemic and beyond, as well as contributing to new research insights. Delivered during the COVID crisis, the speed and scale of the project enabled the hospital to scale-up ICU capacity, in the face of a surge of patients with complex needs. Louise Frampton reports. 

As the number of seriously ill patients with COVID-19 steadily increased throughout 2020, a decision was made to open Gwent’s flagship ‘super critical care centre’ months ahead of schedule. In an impressive feat of construction, the completion of the new Grange University Hospital was advanced at pace to provide much-needed extra ICU capacity to cope with a surge of critically ill patients during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The state-of-the art Grange University Hospital is equipped to treat the most seriously ill patients, or those with significant injuries, and is a designated trauma unit. With 560-beds, a 24-hour acute assessment unit, emergency department and helicopter pad, ‘The Grange’ is one of the biggest NHS construction projects Wales has ever seen – costing around £350m to build.