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Critical Care Outreach

The Critical Care Outreach Team (CCOT) is a nurse led service that supports ward nurses and doctors who are caring for acutely ill inpatients.

The CCOT are a specialist team of senior nurses who have had advanced training in patient examination. The team are a valuable resource for ward staff in responding to and supporting patients who are either stepping down from a period of critical illness or who are showing clinical signs of deterioration.

All adult inpatients at East Kent Hospitals have their vital signs monitored using an early warning score (EWS) which is captured by an observation support system (VitalPAC). VitalPAC automatically alerts staff to any changes or deterioration in a patient’s condition. The EWS prompts staff to call for medical support and a response from the CCOT should a patient’s condition deteriorate.

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Outreach sepsis team

The Outreach sepsis team are available 24hrs day to review patients and to offer guidance and support to ward based teams.

The team also provide follow up after discharge from critical care. Any patient that has had a period of time in a critical care setting ie ITU/HDU will be followed up by CCOT on discharge back to the ward.

During this follow up the CCOT will review your general condition, monitor your progress and advise on further management with regards to critical care issues.

We recognise that the transition between a critical care setting to a ward can be stressful and so the CCOT will be there to support both patients and their relatives to help make this transition as smooth as possible.

The team also has a key role in education and training. The CCOT provide a number of training days throughout the year across the 3 main hospital sites. These training sessions cover all aspects of acute care.

The team also hold monthly drop in sessions in our hospitals HUB and offer individual ward support as needed.