Intensive care is concerned with specialized departments set up to provide close treatment and monitoring for patients who are very seriously ill.
They have fewer patients and more staff for greater care and the rooms are equipped with sophisticated monitoring equipment.
Who needs intensive care?
There are many different reasons why a person may need this type of care.
Some patients need recovery after intensive surgery. Others need it after a serious trauma, such as an accident.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is currently being treated at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at St. Thomas Hospital in London. It has shifted there because the symptoms of coronavirus infection have not improved. Johnson ended up there due to persistent fever and despite not being given a breathing fan, he still has difficulty breathing.
Patients under intensive care will be provided with many machines through tubes, wires and cables, to monitor how their body is coping with the disease. In addition, they receive additional treatments, including food.
"St. Thomas' has experience in treating patients with coronavirus. For extremely severe cases it can use a life support machine called ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation), which replaces some of the functions of the heart and lungs. There are only a handful of these cars across the country.
Once someone is well enough, they will move him back to another hospital ward. This frees up the bed for a patient who may urgently need it.
