East Wing 6 (EW6) St Thomas's Hospital

East Wing 6 (EW6) ICU

EW6 is a specialist ICU where patients with severe breathing problems are cared for when they need a machine for specialist lung support called ECMO, which stands for 'extracorporeal membrane oxygenation'. A machine that works like the lungs, there are tubes in the groin blood vessels, a pump and a 'membrane' to add oxygen to the blood and remove carbon dioxide. There are 11 beds.

Guys and St Thomas’s trust is one of only five hospitals in England that provide a co-ordinated national response service for patients with severe breathing problems.

Doctors and nurses from this unit will advise other hospitals and retrieve patients from hospitals across the South of England, Wales and Northern Ireland to return to St Thomas’ Hospital to continue care on ECMO support. Some patients will be transferred back to their local hospital when they no longer need ECMO. Please see the information leaflet and video from Leicester Hospital explaining ECMO.