Specialist rehabilitation facility opens to support patient recovery in Southampton’s general intensive care unit

University Hospital Southampton (UHS) has celebrated the opening of a dedicated rehabilitation facility within its General Intensive Care Unit (GICU) to support patients’ recoveries.

The new rehab space is fully equipped with a wide range of specialist kit to promote early mobilisation, recovery and independence as patients who have been critically ill begin their journeys out of intensive care.

This includes equipment such as a multigym, weights, basketball hoop, parallel bars, exercise bikes and an interactive games table, enabling patients to access tailored rehabilitation within the GICU environment itself.

Providing this support on the unit helps build strength and confidence and improves wellbeing at a crucial stage – and it comes following a national NCEPOD report published last year which showed significant gaps in rehabilitation for critical care patients.

In addition, a new staff room has been created to enhance the wellbeing of GICU staff, offering a significantly larger, purpose-built space where colleagues can rest and prepare food and drinks during demanding shifts.

These developments complete the final phase of the wider GICU project, bringing to life the full vision first set out when the £22m unit opened in 2020.

The opening was celebrated this week with a ribbon cutting event attended by staff and former patient Fran Atkins, 62, from Bitterne.

Ms Atkins went into anaphylactic shock following routine surgery at a private hospital and later woke up in intensive care at UHS where she spent eight days before moving to a ward, though returned to ICU for a further week after developing respiratory failure.

Following a period of rehabilitation on the ward, she was able to safely return home and is now back at work and living life to the full.

Zoe van Willigen, lead physiotherapist for critical care at UHS, said: “This space is testament to the commitment of our whole ICU team, who champion rehabilitation at the earliest opportunity. An ICU admission can be life changing and recovery can take years. Early rehab not only improves patient experience and outcomes but can also reduce hospital length of stay.

“The equipment here has been carefully selected for our patients and creating this facility has been a real team effort. We’ve also ensured there is enough space to bring beds in so patients can use the area together.

“Over time we hope that patients at different stages of recovery will share this space, offering encouragement and showing those early in their journeys that there is light at the end of the tunnel.”

She added: “It is also in line with the calls from NCEPOD last year for better rehabilitation in ICUs across the country, so we really are at the forefront of this change.” 

Around 2,500 patients from across the South of England and the Channel Islands are treated in Southampton’s ICU every year. These patients have severe, life-threatening conditions ranging from serious infections to major traumatic injuries.

The unit also routinely cares for people following major or specialist surgery, as well as those admitted in an emergency with respiratory failure, major trauma, sepsis or cardiac arrest.

UHS delivers some of the best results in the country for intensive care according to the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Committee, with the Trust regularly appearing in the top five units in the country based on its outcomes.

Patients using the new rehabilitation facility will be supported by a multiprofessional team of physiotherapists, occupational therapists, dietitians, speech and language therapists and psychologists who work together to guide patients through each stage of recovery.

Paul Grundy, chief medical officer at UHS, said: “The impact this facility will have is significant: By providing early, targeted rehabilitation right here in intensive care, we can accelerate patients’ recoveries, help them regain strength more quickly, reduce the amount of time they spend in ICU and in hospital overall, and ultimately improve their clinical outcomes.

“We have already seen patients benefit from our innovative early rehabilitation strategies, and this dedicated space will allow us to take that even further. For patients at risk of physical deterioration during their ICU stay, this will help us strengthen their recovery trajectory, enhance their resilience, shorten their admission and improve their long-term outcomes.”

The £69k development was made possible thanks to the valued support of Southampton Hospitals Charity (SHC).

Ellis Banfield, chief executive of SHC, said: “The completion of the GICU and the opening of this new rehabilitation gym is a real milestone. Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we’ve been able to fund a space that will play an important role in helping critically ill patients regain strength and independence as part of their recovery. This represents further progress in our mission of supporting high-quality, innovative care for Southampton’s patients.”