Impact of critical care outreach on cardiac arrest rates and readmission rates in an adult cardiothoracic centre

Following the recommendations of Comprehensive Critical Care [1], outreach services have been implemented nationally with the remit of avoiding admission to intensive care; facilitating discharge of critically ill patients from Level 3 areas and educating ward staff in critical care skills. This initiative consumes significant resources, and to date there has been disappointing evidence that this investment has been worthwhile in terms of improving outcomes, reduction in cardiac arrests, and unplanned admissions to intensive care.