With a General Election due to take place before the end of January 2025, we feel it’s important to set out our priorities for the next government of the UK. As the home of intensive care since 1970, our manifesto represents the priorities of the intensive care community, encompassing working conditions, patient care, and ambitious goals for the wider National Health Service.
We want to see the next government prioritise the following five areas to build a strong and sustainable intensive care service, properly resourced to care for critically ill patients.
- Invest in intensive care staff
We need major investment in retaining, recruiting, and developing intensive care staff who care for the sickest patients both in intensive care and on their recovery journey. - Prioritise rehabilitation for intensive care survivors
We need rapid expansion of the provision of patient rehabilitation services to ensure all patients have the best chance of returning to life before critical illness. - Enable life-saving research
We need ring-fenced funding to enable intensive care professionals to involve more patients in structured research studies and improve outcomes. - Support a diverse workforce
We need structural change within the health service to foster a diverse, inclusive and psychologically safe working environment for all staff. - Deliver a Carbon Zero intensive care
We must accelerate the move to a Carbon Zero NHS.
