My name is Natalie Duns, and I'm the nurse manager for intensive care services at John Hunter Hospital.
In the intensive care unit at John Hunter Hospital we care for the most critically unwell patients across Hunter New England. We have 29 funded adult intensive care beds, and for the majority of the time, those beds are occupied with patients. So on an average day we'd see between 27-29 patients within our intensive care unit.
My name is Elizabeth Relf and I'm the Nurse Unit Manager for Hunter Retrieval Service. In the redevelopment phase, my role has been review of the design plans and ensuring that they are functional to what our service requires.
The new unit will have a lot more intensive care beds and this means that we can care for a much larger number of patients. It'll mean there's more room for our staff and also that's room for family. So family are obviously welcome at the bedside and there'll be greater room for the family to spend time with their loved ones.
The hardest things to ask a family when their loved one comes into intensive care is often to walk away. So by having overnight rooms, especially when they come in in a stressed fashion is just a safe space for them to take on board what they're currently going through. There will be courtyards, which will mean that we can take our patients outside of their intensive care room to a space that has natural and natural air, which is really exciting.
