Some hospitals have High Dependency Units (HDUs), also called step-down, progressive and intermediate care units. HDUs are wards for people who need more intensive observation, treatment and nursing care than is possible in a general ward but slightly less than that given in intensive care. The ratio of nurses to patients may be slightly lower than in intensive care but higher than in most general wards. Some hospitals have a combined ICU and HDU or a certain number of beds in ICU given to HDU patients. In these cases, although a person is not moved to another ward, the level of care is slightly reduced as s/he is no longer in such a critical state. People spend varying lengths of time in HDU, depending on the nature of their illness and the demands on the unit. Some hospitals in the UK have no HDUs, and in these cases people are usually transferred directly from intensive care to a general ward.
Before a patient is discharged from intensive care, s/he should have another health check (called a short clinical assessment) to identify:
