Would you like to know more about what happens in an intensive care unit, and find out what to expect if you or someone you care for needs to stay with us?

We have a set of easy to understand videos available on the “Explain My Procedure” website.

Watch videos

Our ICU consists of 16 combined adult beds, 6 of which are high dependency beds, however they are all used completely flexibly. In addition, there is a paediatric holding facility in which sick children are stabilised before being transferred to a regional paediatric ICU such as Sheffield Children’s Hospital.

  • Intensive care Matron: Maria Cooper
  • Intensive care Lead Nurses: Leanne Battley and Laura Limb
  • Intensive care Lead consultant Anaesthetist: DR Wenham

The unit admits approximately 800 patients per year. Patients are transferred to the unit from all specialities, including respiratory medicine, general and upper GI surgery, trauma, orthopaedics and paediatrics. The unit has always done well in national audits of performance.

If a relative of yours is admitted to ICU, they will be cared for by a specially trained and qualified nurse at all times.  The nurse may need to assume full responsibility for a patient’s care, this is because the patient is unable, through illness or injury, to take part in their own care.  Each patient’s privacy, dignity, religious and cultural needs will be respected at all times.

A shared care system operates on the unit. This means that the consultant on the ward who your relative was originally admitted under and the ICU consultant anaesthetists will share the medical management of your relative.

Caring for an intensive care or high dependency patient is very different to caring for a ward patient.  Often ICU patients are totally reliant on the nursing and medical team and therefore you may encounter delays in visiting while we carry out essential nursing or medical procedures, we apologise in advance for these delays and assure you that any delays will be kept to a minimum.

As intensive care is a sensitive area with very sick people being treated on it, we ask that only close family relative’s visit patients on ICU, this is in the interest of all our patients and their families.  There are strict visiting times so that patients are able to get their rest and our teams can carry out their work effectively.

Visiting times are 11:00am – 8:00pm.

Due to Covid 19 restrictions, at present we ask for the same person to visit the patient for 1 hour per day, carry out a lateral flow test, and be symptom free of covid before visiting. Hand hygiene and Personal protective equipment such as an apron, gloves and a new face mask (supplied by the unit) should be worn before entering the patients bed space. We appreciate your cooperation at this time.

Seriously ill patients can be visited at anytime and we can sometimes arrange for close relatives to stay overnight, Any visitor needing to visit outside the scheduled visiting times will only be allowed to do so in exceptional circumstances and should be arranged with the ICU staff in advance.

We’re currently in a temporary home on ward 31/32. We moved here April 2020 to allow for expansion due to Covid 19, and since then we have gained funding for a brand-new critical care unit expected to be completed November 2022. Funding has also allowed us to increase our critical care capacity from 11 to 16 beds, providing a service following the increase and aging population of Barnsley.

Accessibility & Travel Information

Click here for accessibility information and directions for visiting the Intensive Care Unit. This page also includes printable guides for your convenience.