Intensive care council seats for physios

Sarah Dyson and Simon Hayward were elected to the ICS council in December 2018. Roles were open to both AHP (allied health professional) and nursing members, and their appointment reflects the multidisciplinary ethos of the ICS and its focus on supporting its members across all professions, reflecting the functioning of critical care services in today’s NHS.

Sarah: Simon and I will be able to represent the views of all AHPs in the development of standards, guidelines and service provision for critical care services throughout the UK. It’s a great chance to raise the profile of the 14 AHPs that work within the NHS and shape how they can be involved in providing the very best critical care services for our patients. The ICS values the expertise of all its members and provides development and influencing opportunities. Last December they produced the AHP career development framework, a structured guideline for role progression within critical care for all professions. It will give AHPs the same diversity of career options as other staff groups.

Simon: CUSIC (core ultrasound in intensive care) the ultrasound training pathway of the ICS supported my interest in lung ultrasound and allowed me to become accredited and ultimately a lung ultrasound mentor. I started teaching lung ultrasound to physiotherapists and was invited to the CUSIC committee as an AHP representative. AHPs have already been able to contribute to the development of the guidelines for the provision of intensive care services (GPICS) and GPICS version 2. This excellent work has been widely supported by other critical care physiotherapists across the UK, and endorsed by numerous AHP professional bodies.

• Sarah Dyson is critical care physiotherapist at the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust and Simon Hayward is specialist practice development physiotherapist in lung ultrasound at the Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust