This is a period of time within a hospital provider spell during which a patient receives care in a designated adult critical care bed. The purpose of the CCDS is to capture data relating to the Critical Care Period.
Outreach activity and resuscitation conducted outside designated critical care areas should not be recorded as a Critical Care Period. Also excluded from this is care provided on general wards. A new Critical Care Period starts when the patient is admitted to a critical care location regardless of the critical care level. Repeated admissions to the same unit (including repeated admissions within the same calendar day), transfers to a different critical care location and transfers from a non-standard location to a critical care unit within the same Hospital Provider Spell trigger a new Critical Care Period. A change of consultant or brief transfers for investigation or treatment do not end the Critical Care Period.
A Critical Care Period ends when the patient is discharged from the critical care location or dies.