A period of time within a Hospital Provider Spell during which a PATIENT receives critical care.

For PATIENTS treated in 'neonatal facilities', that is, in WARDS with a CRITICAL CARE UNIT FUNCTION of 13, 14 or 15, critical care PATIENTS include:

a) All PATIENTS on a WARD with a CRITICAL CARE UNIT FUNCTION Neonatal Intensive Care Unit regardless of care being delivered.
or
b) All PATIENTS (excluding Mothers) on a WARD with a CRITICAL CARE UNIT FUNCTION Facility for Babies on a Neonatal Transitional Care Ward or Facility for Babies on a Maternity Ward to whom one or more CRITICAL CARE ACTIVITIES with codes 01 to 02, 04 - 16 or 22 - 29 is delivered for a period greater than 4 hours.

For PATIENTS treated in 'adult facilities' or 'other facilities', that is, WARDS with a CRITICAL CARE UNIT FUNCTION of 01-03, 05-12, 90 or 91, the following conditions apply:

• A new CRITICAL CARE PERIOD starts when the PATIENT is admitted to a critical care location regardless of CRITICAL CARE LEVEL. 
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• Outreach activity, although part of critical care, should not be recorded as a CRITICAL CARE PERIOD. 
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• Resuscitation conducted outside designated critical care locations, e.g. as part of conventional care in operating theatres and Accident and Emergency Departments, should not be recorded as a CRITICAL CARE PERIOD even though many aspects of the care given may satisfy the definitions for Level 2 or Level 3  CRITICAL CARE LEVELS.
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• Repeated admissions to the same unit should be recorded as separate CRITICAL CARE PERIODS identified by different CRITICAL CARE START DATES. A transfer to a different critical care location within the same Hospital Provider Spell will initiate a new CRITICAL CARE PERIOD identified by the differing CRITICAL CARE UNIT FUNCTION.
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• A change of Consultant Episode (Hospital Provider) or brief transfers for investigation and/or treatment do not end the CRITICAL CARE PERIOD.
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• A CRITICAL CARE PERIOD ends when the PATIENT is discharged from the critical care location, or dies, or the care that is being delivered in a non-standard location (see below) is CRITICAL CARE LEVEL National Code 00 Level 0 or 01 'Level 1'.
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• Critical care locations are described by CRITICAL CARE UNIT FUNCTION and UNIT BED CONFIGURATION. Critical Care beds may include occasional non-standard locations using a ward area or operating department when conventional critical care beds are not available. Non standard locations may only be recorded if the CRITICAL CARE LEVEL is National Code 02 'Level 2' or 03 'Level 3' and the delivery of care is greater than four hours. For CRITICAL CARE PERIODS with CRITICAL CARE UNIT FUNCTIONS of either National Code 90 'non standard location using a ward area' or National Code 91 'non standard location using the operating department', care provided in these locations must exceed four hours, and must include CLINICAL INTERVENTIONS, monitoring and supervision normally associated with a critical care area i.e. intensive therapy unit or high dependency unit. Further the care provided must be continuously supervised by currently practising critical care doctors and NURSES who would normally work in critical care.
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• The type of ORGAN SYSTEM SUPPORTED is recorded and the duration of each organ system support is calculated from the ACTIVITY PROPERTY EFFECTIVE DATE and the ACTIVITY PROPERTY END DATE.
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• A CRITICAL CARE PERIOD does not include the following:
  a. Surgical and anaesthetic intra-operative care
  b. Post-operative care within an operating department except where level 2 or level 3 care are provided for more than 4 hours
  c. Care delivered in a cardiac or coronary care unit
  d. Imaging procedures
  e. Endoscopy procedures
  f.  Care delivered in an Accident and Emergency Department

Commissioning Data Set Transmission

• The CRITICAL CARE PERIOD may overlap Episodes, i.e. the CRITICAL CARE START DATE may precede the start of the CONSULTANT/ MIDWIFE / NURSE Episode; similarly the CRITICAL CARE PERIOD may not have ended by the end of the Episode.
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• The Data Elements CRITICAL CARE START DATE, CRITICAL CARE LOCAL IDENTIFIER and CRITICAL CARE UNIT FUNCTION must always be present.
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• Where applicable, Support Days and Critical Care Level Days should only be entered when the CRITICAL CARE PERIOD is finished and the CRITICAL CARE DISCHARGE DATE is entered.
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• The CRITICAL CARE DISCHARGE DATE must be on or before the DISCHARGE DATE (HOSPITAL PROVIDER SPELL).

This class is also known by these names:

Context	Alias
plural	CRITICAL CARE PERIODS