Patients and Families Information

The information collected and published by PICANet can help parents, carers and others gain an insight and understanding about the activity of the paediatric intensive care service within the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.

PICANet brings together health professionals, parents and carers with experience of paediatric intensive care, to work together to improve services for the family.

PICANet have provided useful links to information and organisations that may provide additional support and information for families caring for a sick child at the time of or following an admission to paediatric intensive care.

PICANet conduct clinical audit and support research

What is a clinical audit?

A clinical audit is a process that gathers information to examine whether healthcare providers, such as paediatric critical care units and transport teams, are delivering care in accordance with established standards. The goal is to make sure that the quality of care is good and keeps getting better over time.

 You may be familiar with the concept of a clinical standard, like the expectation to be seen within four hours when arriving at an Accident & Emergency (A&E) department. In paediatric critical care, there are similar standards that apply specifically to children’s medical needs. We work independently and with healthcare teams to help them see what they are doing well and where they can make improvements, all with the aim of providing the best care possible.

What is research?

Research in paediatric critical care has a primary goal: to generate new knowledge that can lead to better healthcare services and outcomes for children, young people, and their families. There are different ways to do research. Some studies use existing data to learn more about medical conditions (secondary research), while others involve clinical trials to test new treatments and see if they work better than current ones.

At PICANet, we support research in many ways. One way is by sharing data so that healthcare teams and researchers do not duplicate information already collected through clinical audit. By collaborating with researchers, we aim to keep contributing to the improvement of the care and well-being of young patients.

Does my child have to be included?

You or the child you care for can opt out of having personally identifiable information stored by PICANet. If you wish you can also stop data being included in approved research projects. The PICANet clinical audit and research database opt out policy for children, young people and parents provides more information and guidance on how to do this.

Please visit our PICANet Patient Privacy and Fair Processing Statement for more detail on how we handle and retain information collected as part of the PICANet audit (Welsh language version). A list of Associated Research that use PICANet Data are also available.

Posters and information leaflets

You may have been provided with printed copies of our leaflets, or seen the poster displayed in the unit you have visited. If you click the links below they will take you to larger ‘pop out’ versions of our leaflets and posters.

The following poster and leaflets are for healthcare delivered in England:

PICANet Poster – England

Children’s Leaflet – England

Information Leaflet – England

For healthcare delivered in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, we have the following poster and leaflets:

PICANet Poster – Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales

Children’s Leaflet – Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales

Information Leaflets – Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales

Below are Welsh language posters and leaflets:

PICANet Poster – Welsh language

Children’s Leaflet – Welsh language

Information Leaflet – Welsh language

The following poster and leaflets are for healthcare delivered in the Republic of Ireland:

PICANet Poster – Republic of Ireland

Children’s Leaflet – Republic of Ireland

Information Leaflet – Republic of Ireland

We also have specific leaflets and a poster for the Level 2 expansion of PICANet. More information about the expansion can be found on the Level 2 Expansion page of our website.

PICANet Level 2 Poster

 

Level 2 Children’s Information Leaflet

Level 2 Information Leaflet

 

PICU Story PICANet Families Group 2014 v2.2

We have pulled together some information on useful websites. This includes useful support groups and organisations associated with conditions and treatment in PIC.

Please follow the links to the websites. Please note that PICANet is providing the pathways to access these sites, however we do not have authority or accept responsibility for the content and upkeep of these site.