Professor Shondipon Laha

Have you ever wondered what is the reality of working in intensive care? 

This  is probably one of the most demanding areas of clinical practice, with staff not only having to manage  organ failure with patients who are so often at the edge of life and death but also families who are anxious and distressed.  

In this their latest podcast Niall and Roy explore the modern reality of this highly pressured environment in a revealing exchange with the President of the Intensive Care Society, Professor Shondipon Laha.

Shond is a critical care consultant at Lancashire teaching Hospitals and this is an encounter full of surprises.  While he highlights the continuing shortages of intensive care beds in the UK which was cruelly exposed when Covid hit in 2020 (and remains a challenge today) he also points to the desperate need for social care reform and for rehabilitation services. Both of these he argues are essential if we are to achieve the right outcomes for patients who have been through intensive care.

Shond acknowledges the technical and drug advances that have been made in recent years, ironically helped by the dreadful experience of Covid. Yet for him, the greatest progress in his specialty has been the development of strong multidisciplinary teams in which the key roles of nurses, physios, pharmacists, OTs, dietitians and others are recognised and team working is making care effective. 

As for doctors, he sees the development of the intensive care speciality and the move away from it being a branch of anaesthetics as vital with the development of education, training and dedicated intensive care posts.

If you want to validate or challenge your view of intensive care, or just develop a better understanding of a unique area of healthcare, please do join Niall, Roy and Shond -  it’s a great listen.