Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) is a life support machine that temporarily replaces the function of the lungs. Blood is pumped outside of your body through an artificial lung that removes carbon dioxide and sends oxygen-filled blood back to the body. ECMO is not a treatment in itself but allows the lungs to be rested to help them to heal.
Some causes of severe lung failure which may require ECMO support:
- Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)
- Asthma
- Covid-19
- Flu (influenza)
- Pneumonia
- Trauma
Patients who need ECMO are very ill and must be looked after on a specialist intensive care unit with medical, nursing, perfusion and allied health professional expert in the technology.
The Barts Health ECMO service is one of eight nationally commissioned services that support patients with severe acute lung failure. We serve patients and referrers across north east London. The service is based on ward 6A at St Bartholomew’s Hospital.
Around three in four patients who require ECMO for severe lung failure survive to be discharged from hospital. Survival and recovery rates from ECMO at Barts Health are comparable to other centres nationally and internationally. We work closely with colleagues at other national ECMO services to maintain and improve our services and optimise patient centred outcomes.
Making a referral
Making a referral
Before making your referral, please read the national referral criteria and guidance.
You can make referrals for ECMO at Barts Health on the Signpost website.
After you have made your referral, we will review it and our on-call ECMO consultant will contact you to discuss; please include a telephone number in the referral form to enable us to call you. The ECMO consultant will contact you as soon as is feasible following receipt of a referral, usually within 30 minutes.
If your referral is time critical, please contact the Barts Health ECMO consultant directly on 0203 596 0440.
What to expect as a referrer
We offer a consultant-delivered retrieval service, including mobile ECMO, 24/7. If ECMO is to be instituted at the referring hospital, the ECMO retrieval team may need access to a radiographer with image intensifier, ultrasound equipment and two units of blood. The patient’s relatives should be asked to be available for discussion about ECMO with the ECMO team. Rarely, we may not have the capacity to accept patients to St Bartholomew’s Hospital. We would then liaise with other ECMO centres to arrange onward referral to include the Barts Health ECMO team taking a patient to another ECMO centre.
Patients who recover and no longer require specialist care for their severe lung failure, may be referred back to their local hospital to allow them to be closer to friends and family and any ongoing clinical and service needs they may have.
Recovery from ECMO
We support patients after they have gone home through our critical care follow-up clinic. The clinic is run by consultants, senior nurses and physiotherapists who ensure any on-going needs following discharge from intensive care and hospital are addressed and answer questions about a patient’s time in intensive care.
Our team
- Clinical lead: Dr Sachin Shah
- Lead nurse: Debra Gaffey
- Matron: Moriom Bibi
- Lead perfusionist: Phil Gamston
- Research lead: Professor Mark Griffiths
Training and education
We run training courses throughout the year and these are open to external candidates from all healthcare backgrounds.
Our one-day course introduces people to ECMO.
Two-day courses are aimed at healthcare staff who will take significant roles in the day to day care of patients and include simulation scenarios to cover the main aspects of ECMO management.
For more information, please contact us by email.
We enjoy hosting visitors who wish to observe the work we do. Please email us if you would like to apply for a placement.
Cardiac ECMO
We also offer cardiac ECMO to support severe acute heart failure. This is similar to respiratory ECMO but in addition to lung support, it can replace most of the blood flow from the heart to ensure vital organs receive oxygen and nutrients. The most common indication for cardiac ECMO is cardiogenic shock which can be due to a multitude of causes that can affect people of all ages including those without know heart diseases.
Our service includes emergency access to a 24/7 team of multidisciplinary specialists who can offer advice on patient management including transfer to St Bartholomew’s Hospital for expert acute cardiac care.
To refer a patient, please visit our Sharepoint webpage.