PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Verity Ford AU - Robert Angus AU - Biswajit Chakrabarti AU - Nick Duffy AU - John O'Reilly AU - Karen Ward AU - Jan Bennett AU - Victoria Molyneaux AU - Jackie Walsh AU - Julie Cheney AU - Robert Parker TI - A new weaning and long term ventilation service – One year on DP - 2011 Sep 01 TA - European Respiratory Journal PG - p2067 VI - 38 IP - Suppl 55 4099 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p2067.short 4100 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p2067.full SO - Eur Respir J2011 Sep 01; 38 AB - Introduction: In 2010 a purpose built 10 bed Ventilation Inpatient Centre (VIC) was opened. In its first year 230 patients received acute non invasive ventilation (NIV), and 164 electively established on domiciliary NIV. It now also manages weaning failure for tracheostomy ventilated ICU patients in a multidisciplinary, rehabilitation centred environment. The cost is less than half that of an ICU bed. A secondary role is assisting discharge of ventilator dependent patients to home or care facility. Well established in continental Europe and the USA, such units are rare in the United Kingdom. We reviewed our weaning cases to report our first years experience.Results:View this table:Completed patient episodes 2010-2011Conclusion: Activity has risen steadily, all weaning beds are currently used with a waiting list for transfer. Most patients had an underlying diagnosis likely to prevent complete liberation from ventilatory support. Success in weaning from invasive ventilation has been largely through the use of nocturnal NIV. The service has been well received by patients, families and referring ICUs. ICU beds can be used for acute care, it is cost effective and provides a template for other service development.