PICANet State of the Nations Report 2025
This National Paediatric Critical Care Audit State of the Nations Report describes paediatric critical care activity occurring within designated level 3 paediatric intensive care units (PICU) and Paediatric Critical Care Transport Services (PCCTS) in the United Kingdom (UK) and Republic of Ireland (ROI) during 2022 – 2024.
Some designated level 3 PICUs also incorporate designated level 2 paediatric critical care and these are included in the report to ensure a complete picture of care delivered in level 3 designated units/ paediatric critical care units. Designated level 2 beds situated outside of these combined units are not included in this report.
PICANet also collects more detailed information on referral and admission to paediatric critical care for Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) via dedicated ECMO datasets. The data from this collection is not included in this report.
More information on the data reported on can be found in the report’s Appendices and the PICU (Level 3) Forms, Data Manuals and Guidance webpage.
An overview of paediatric critical care in 2024 is provided below
There were 18,021 PICU admissions for children aged 0-15 years in 2024. Around two thirds of these were from the same hospital and one-third were from another hospital with 39% coming from theatre and recovery, 23% from A&E and 21% from a ward.
During their PICU stay, 61% of admissions required invasive ventilation and 21% required non-invasive ventilation, 32.2% required vasoactive treatment, 1.6% received ECMO and 3.4% needed renal support.
Most children survived their PICU admission (96.1%) and of these a small percentage were discharged for palliative care (1.2%). Where the child survived PICU, 82.1% of admissions were discharged to the same hospital and 12.1% to another hospital. Most children were discharged to a ward (79.2%) or HDU (15%).
Of the 689 admissions where the child died in PICU: treatment was withdrawn in two-thirds of cases; treatment was limited in 17.1%; death by neurological criteria occurred in 7% and death was due to failed cardiopulmonary resuscitation in a further 9.4%. Thirty (4.3%) of those who died were transplant donors.
In addition to the 18,021 admissions for children to PICU in 2024, there were 449 children admitted to adult ICUs across England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland with about half (44%) for children aged 10 years or under. Admission of children to adult ICU was most common in November, December and January (respectively).
In 2024, there were 5,505 transports reported to PICANet of which the majority (n=4,059, 73.7%) were non-elective transports to PICU.
There were 18,021 PICU admissions for children aged 0-15 years in 2024. Around two thirds of these were from the same hospital and one-third were from another hospital with 39% coming from theatre and recovery, 23% from A&E and 21% from a ward.
During their PICU stay, 61% of admissions required invasive ventilation and 21% required non-invasive ventilation, 32.2% required vasoactive treatment, 1.6% received ECMO and 3.4% needed renal support.
Most children survived their PICU admission (96.1%) and of these a small percentage were discharged for palliative care (1.2%). Where the child survived PICU, 82.1% of admissions were discharged to the same hospital and 12.1% to another hospital. Most children were discharged to a ward (79.2%) or HDU (15%).
Of the 689 admissions where the child died in PICU: treatment was withdrawn in two-thirds of cases; treatment was limited in 17.1%; death by neurological criteria occurred in 7% and death was due to failed cardiopulmonary resuscitation in a further 9.4%. Thirty (4.3%) of those who died were transplant donors.
In addition to the 18,021 admissions for children to PICU in 2024, there were 449 children admitted to adult ICUs across England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland with about half (44%) for children aged 10 years or under. Admission of children to adult ICU was most common in November, December and January (respectively).
In 2024, there were 5,505 transports reported to PICANet of which the majority (n=4,059, 73.7%) were non-elective transports to PICU.
Each year we make national recommendations in our State of the Nations Reports. Our latest In-focus Impact Report describes progress against last year’s recommendations and how they have encouraged and supported developments to investigate areas of inequality and improve the quality of paediatric critical care.
The Infographic highlights some of the report’s key findings.
The Appendices contain acknowledgements to the paediatric critical care community, as well as background information and methodology for the audit.
PICANet State of the Nations Report 2025 Interactive Charts and Data
With each report we provide detailed information in interactive charts with associated data tables for a series of outcomes. There are also two core Excel files for Mortality data (Standardised Mortality Ratios) and Data Quality (Data Completeness and Case Ascertainment).
For more up to date summary figures throughout the year, please refer to the PICANet Data Dashboard.
New this year, we present how the key metric results have changed over time. Key metrics were first introduced in the Annual Report 2017 and this document summarises the results from 2014 – 2024.
Quality Improvement resources for participating organisations are available on our QI Resources page
If you have any queries regarding the report, please contact [email protected].
PICANet must be acknowledged as the source when reproducing or quoting any part of this publication. Citation for this report: Paediatric Intensive Care Audit Network (PICANet) National Paediatric Critical Care Audit State of the Nations Report 2025. Universities of Leeds and Leicester, 2025.
Previous editions of PICANet annual reports are available in the Annual Report Archive.