Summary report
Source: data.gov.uk (2023-12-18)

PICANet Annual Report 2020-2022. Paediatric Intensive Care Audit - This data contains information on all admissions to Paediatric Intensive Care units in the UK and Ireland 2020-2022.

Paediatric Intensive Care  
Audit Network 
 
 National Paediatric Critical Care Audit  
 
State of the Nation Report 2023 
Summary Report 
Data collection period:  
January 2020 – December 2022 
Published 2023 
 

PICANet State of the Nation Report 2023  
 
 
 
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Contents 
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 3 
Key Messages ........................................................................................................................................... 3 
National Recommendations ....................................................................................................................... 4 
Admissions to Paediatric Intensive Care Units ........................................................................................... 5 
Mortality within PICUs ................................................................................................................................ 7 
Key Metrics ................................................................................................................................................ 8 
Metric 1: Case ascertainment and timeliness of data submission for 2022 admissions ......................... 8 
Metric 2: Transport team mobilisation times .......................................................................................... 9 
Metric 3: Emergency readmissions within 48 hours ............................................................................. 10 
Metric 4: Unplanned extubations in PICU ............................................................................................ 11 
Metric 5: Mortality in PICU ................................................................................................................... 12 
Organisation Key ..................................................................................................................................... 13 
 
 
 
Online resources  
We have a range of resources to accompany this report online.  
The Infographic highlights some of the report’s key findings in relation to paediatric critical care activity 
between 2020 and 2022.  
The Appendices contain acknowledgements to the paediatric critical care community, as well as 
background information and methodology about the audit.  
A set of tables and figures are available for download from the Report webpage. They document 
transport and admissions activity within paediatric critical care between 2020 and 2022.  
We provide a range of Quality Improvement Resources for participating organisations.  
New resources to explore are: 
 
The PICANet Data Dashboard, which is a selection of charts showing data relating to some of 
PICANet’s key metrics. Clinical teams involved with patient care can use these along with other 
resources that PICANet provide to develop local quality improvement strategies and compare 
compliance with audit performance metrics. The dashboard will be refreshed on a quarterly basis. 
 
Information to support the collection of data related to healthcare associated infections and 
delirium. 
Other key resources include: 
 
Risk-adjusted Resetting Sequential Probability Ratio Test (RSPRT) plot guidance for units to 
assist PICUs in identifying and responding to potential issues with quality of care in a time-
sensitive fashion. The guidance includes a case study from a PICU team that responded to a 
RSPRT reset, which was a cause for concern requiring internal review.  
 
Signposting to guidance and resources for the collection and recording of ethnicity to improve 
data completeness and quality. 

PICANet State of the Nation Report 2023  
 
 
 
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Introduction 
 
This State of the Nation Report 2023 is the twentieth PICANet annual clinical audit report describing 
paediatric critical care activity which occurred within Level 3 paediatric intensive care units and Specialist 
Paediatric Critical Care Transport Services in the United Kingdom (UK) and Republic of Ireland (ROI) 
between 2020 and 2022.  
The report describes key information on transport and admission events collected by the National Paediatric 
Critical Care Audit to monitor the delivery and quality of care in relation to agreed standards and evaluate 
clinical outcomes to inform national policy in paediatric critical care. 
We report on five key metrics relevant to Paediatric Intensive Care services: case ascertainment including 
timeliness of data submission, retrieval mobilisation times, emergency readmissions within 48 hours of 
discharge, unplanned extubation in PICU and mortality in PICU. 
The National Paediatric Critical Care Audit is commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement 
Partnership (HQIP) as part of the National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme (NCAPOP), the 
Welsh Health Specialised Services, NHS Lothian and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, the Royal Belfast 
Hospital for Sick Children, The National Office of Clinical Audit (NOCA) for the Republic of Ireland and HCA 
Healthcare UK. 
HQIP is led by a consortium of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, the Royal College of Nursing, and 
National Voices. Its aim is to promote quality improvement in patient outcomes, and in particular, to increase 
the impact that clinical audit, outcome review programmes and registries have on healthcare quality in 
England and Wales. HQIP holds the contract to commission, manage, and develop the National Clinical 
Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme (NCAPOP), comprising around 40 projects covering care provided 
to people with a wide range of medical, surgical and mental health conditions. The programme is funded by 
NHS England, the Welsh Government and, with some individual projects, other devolved administrations 
and crown dependencies www.hqip.org.uk/national-programmes.  
Professor Elizabeth S. Draper 
Professor Richard G. Feltbower 
Principal Investigators 
 
Key Messages 
 
The number of admissions to paediatric intensive care across the UK and Republic of Ireland (ROI) 
increased by 3% from 18,307 in 2021 to 18,774 in 2022. This increase was reflected across all 
countries of the UK and ROI except Northern Ireland, where a small decrease was observed. 
 
Two in every five admissions to PICUs were accounted for by those aged under 1 year. A further 
quarter of admissions occurred in those aged 1-4 years and these proportions remained similar 
between 2020 and 2022. 
 
Children were more likely to be admitted to PICU if they came from the most deprived areas of 
England, Wales and Scotland. Similarly, children from the most affluent areas were least likely to be 
admitted. These patterns remained stable during the three-year reporting period. 
 
The ethnic distribution of admissions was similar between 2020 and 2022. 63% of admissions were 
of ‘White’ ethnic origin, 12% ‘Asian’, 5% ‘Black’ and 8% ‘Mixed’ or ‘Other’ ethnic minority origin. 
 
In England, admission rates were much higher among those from ‘Asian’ and ‘Black’ ethnic groups 
(17 per 10,000 population) compared to ‘White’ and ‘Mixed’ ethnic groups (10 per 10,000 
population).  
 
Completeness of known data on ethnic group did not improve between 2021 and 2022, remaining 
around 88-89%. 

PICANet State of the Nation Report 2023  
 
 
 
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 
Respiratory admissions comprised just over 30% of all PICU activity in 2022, an increase from 27% 
in 2021 and 22% in 2020.   
 
The vast majority of children admitted to PICU survived with 96.1% of admissions discharged alive in 
2022. There was a slight increase in mortality from 3.3% of admissions in 2021 to 3.9% in 2022.  
 
Of all child deaths in the population of the UK and ROI, the percentage occurring within PICU 
increased slightly to 18% in 2022 from 15% in 2021 and 2020 with the UK seeing an increase (14% 
in 2021 to 18% in 2022) and the ROI a decrease (28% in 2021 to 21% in 2022) in these proportions.  
 
In 2022, the target for timeliness of data submission to PICANet was changed from three months to 
two months from the date of discharge. Overall, 80% of all admissions were submitted within the 
two-month standard across all UK and ROI PICUs1. Nineteen units submitted over 80% of their 
admissions within two months (PCCS Quality Standard 2021).  
 
The number of non-elective transports to a PICU increased slightly from 4,324 in 2021 to 4,505 in 
2022. Of those journeys carried out in 2022, 67% were started within 30 minutes vs 65% in 2021 and 
64% in 2020, whilst over 83% started within one hour of the clinical decision being made. Overall, 
4% of journeys in 2022 started more than three hours after the decision was made, a similar finding 
to 2020 and 2021. 
 
The proportion of emergency readmissions within 48 hours of discharge for the UK and ROI 
decreased slightly from 1.7% in 2021 to 1.5% in 2022. Rates were slightly higher in Scotland (2.0%) 
in 2022 and lower in Northern Ireland (0.7%). 
 
Reported rates of unplanned extubations for the UK and ROI remained steady with an overall rate of 
4.5 per 1,000 ventilated days in all three report years. There was a consistent increase in reported 
rates in Northern Ireland from 0.9 in 2020 to 6.4 in 2022. 17 out of 30 PICUs (57%) had an 
unplanned extubation rate below 5.0 in 2022 (NHS England target 2021/22).  
 
No units were identified as negative statistical outliers for mortality between 2020 and 2022. One unit 
was identified as a positive outlier for mortality with much lower numbers of deaths than what was 
expected. 
 
National Recommendations 
 
 
1. Investigate reasons for higher PICU admission rates among Asian and Black children and those from 
the most deprived areas of the UK. 
Action: Paediatric Critical Care Society Study Group to identify this as a research priority, 
National Institute for Health and Care Research to fund the research. Collaborate and share 
research findings with NHS England’s CYP Transformation and Health Inequalities 
Improvement teams for dissemination to ICBs / networks as well as use in implementation of 
preventative pathways.  
 
2. Develop a strategy to optimise compliance with Paediatric Critical Care Society Quality Standard T-
703 Key Performance Indicator, “Departure of team from base or re-tasking within 30 minutes of 
decision that a critical care transport is required”.  
Action: Paediatric Critical Care Society Acute Transport Group to develop a strategy with 
support from Paediatric Critical Care Operational Delivery Networks to understand local 
variation. 
 
 
                                                             
1 These figures are calculated based on the period July – December 2022 following the PICANet database outage 
between March – June 2022. 

PICANet State of the Nation Report 2023  
 
 
 
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Admissions to Paediatric Intensive Care Units 
Table 1a: Admissions to PICU across the UK & Republic of Ireland by socio-demographic characteristics and year of admission 
  
  
2020 
2021 
2022 
2020-2022 
  
  
n 
% 
n 
% 
n 
% 
n 
% 
Total 
16,527 
30.8 
18,307 
34.1 
18,774 
35.0 
53,608 
 
Sex 
Male 
9,403 
56.9 
10,303 
56.3 
10,629 
56.6 
30,335 
56.6 
Female 
7,124 
43.1 
8,004 
43.7 
8,145 
43.4 
23,273 
43.4 
Age group 
(years) 
<1 
7,028 
42.5 
7,464 
40.8 
7,807 
41.6 
22,299 
41.6 
1-4 
3,976 
24.1 
4,625 
25.3 
4,662 
24.8 
13,263 
24.7 
5-10 
2,746 
16.6 
3,012 
16.5 
3,148 
16.8 
8,906 
16.6 
11-15 
2,777 
16.8 
3,206 
17.5 
3,157 
16.8 
9,140 
17.0 
Ethnicity 
White 
10,343 
62.6 
11,573 
63.2 
11,726 
62.5 
33,642 
62.8 
Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups 
562 
3.4 
671 
3.7 
694 
3.7 
1,927 
3.6 
Asian/Asian British 
1,889 
11.4 
2,174 
11.9 
2,195 
11.7 
6,258 
11.7 
Black/African/Caribbean/Black British 
868 
5.3 
1,025 
5.6 
1,010 
5.4 
2,903 
5.4 
Other 
572 
3.5 
747 
4.1 
1,027 
5.5 
2,346 
4.4 
Unknown/not stated 
2,293 
13.9 
2,117 
11.6 
2,122 
11.3 
6,532 
12.2 
Deprivation 
1 (Most deprived areas) 
4,400 
26.6 
4,743 
25.9 
4,866 
25.9 
14,009 
26.1 
2 
3,220 
19.5 
3,442 
18.8 
3,641 
19.4 
10,303 
19.2 
3 
2,641 
16.0 
2,937 
16.0 
2,887 
15.4 
8,465 
15.8 
4 
2,109 
12.8 
2,336 
12.8 
2,417 
12.9 
6,862 
12.8 
5 (Least deprived areas) 
1,937 
11.7 
2,309 
12.6 
2,215 
11.8 
6,461 
12.1 
Not included 
2,220 
13.4 
2,540 
13.9 
2,748 
14.6 
7,508 
14.0 
Country 
England (NHS) 
13,025 
78.8 
14,260 
77.9 
14,532 
77.4 
41,817 
78.0 
England (non-NHS) 
231 
1.4 
240 
1.3 
278 
1.5 
749 
1.4 
Wales 
363 
2.2 
372 
2.0 
396 
2.1 
1,131 
2.1 
Scotland 
1,178 
7.1 
1,375 
7.5 
1,509 
8.0 
4,062 
7.6 
Northern Ireland 
353 
2.1 
443 
2.4 
425 
2.3 
1,221 
2.3 
Republic of Ireland 
1,377 
8.3 
1,617 
8.8 
1,634 
8.7 
4,628 
8.6 
 
Percentages are calculated within category by column, except for totals which are calculated across rows. Deprivation scores were calculated for residents of England, Wales and Scotland 
admitted to a PICU in those nations. Deprivation score was based on the location of residence of the child using the Children in low-income measure (HMRC, 2014). Categories are equivalised to 
contain equal populations. Where a child’s address was unknown, score unavailable, or admission was resident outside England, Wales, or Scotland, these were added to the ‘Not included’ row. 
Ethnicity categories were defined using Office for National Statistics definitions (Ethnic group, national identity, and religion). ‘Country’ refers to country of admission rather than residence of the 
child. 
 

PICANet State of the Nation Report 2023  
 
 
 
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Table 1a shows the number of admissions recorded in paediatric intensive care units (PICUs) across the UK 
and Republic of Ireland (ROI) according to socio-demographic factors by year of admission. Total 
admissions have increased year on year, with a further increase from 18,307 in 2021 to 18,774 in 2022 (an 
increase of 2.6%). The overall increases in admissions between 2021 and 2022 are generally reflected 
within the nations that make up the UK and ROI, although there was a small decrease in Northern Ireland. 
The overall proportion of admissions was higher for males than females (56.6% vs 43.4%), which was 
constant over the three-year reporting period. Around 40% of all admissions were accounted for by those 
under 1 year of age; this proportion was constant over time. Children from the most deprived areas of 
England, Wales and Scotland were over-represented in terms of admissions to PIC, whereas children from 
the least deprived areas were under-represented. There was a general trend that children from more 
deprived areas were more likely to be admitted to paediatric intensive care than those from less deprived 
areas. 
The ethnicity distribution of admissions was broadly constant over the three-year period. Despite some 
progress made on reducing the proportion of admissions where ethnicity was classified as ‘Unknown’ or ‘Not 
stated’ since 2020, it still accounted for 11% of all admission records.  
Table 1b shows that 67.0% of PIC admissions in England were of ‘White’ ethnic origin, compared to 78.1% 
of all children being white in the general population. The admission rate for white children to PIC was 9.6 per 
10,000, similar to children from the ‘Mixed’ group (9.8 per 10,000), but much lower than the ‘Asian’ and 
‘Black’ ethnic groups, who had equivalent rates of 17.2 and 16.9 respectively.  
Table 1b: Admission rate per 10,000 population by ethnicity (England only) 
  
Average annual 
admissions 
Child population 2021 
Admissions/ 
  
n 
% 
n 
% 
10,000 pop 
White 
7,826 
67.0 
8,187,293 
78.1 
9.6 
Mixed/multiple ethnic group 
557 
4.8 
566,087 
5.4 
9.8 
Asian/Asian British 
1,843 
15.8 
1,069,275 
10.2 
17.2 
Black/African/Caribbean/Black British 
885 
7.6 
524,155 
5.0 
16.9 
Other 
577 
4.9 
136,280 
1.3 
42.4 
Total 
11,688 
  
10,483,090 
  
11.1 
Admissions are for an average year in the three-year reporting period, and exclude admissions that had ethnicity recorded as 
‘unknown’ or ‘not stated’. Population is based upon 2021 mid-year population estimates (ONS, 2022). Population within each ethnic 
group is calculated using data from the 2011 census (table LC2109EWls) and will be updated when the 2021 census data are 
available. 
Table 2: Admissions by primary diagnostic group and year 
Primary diagnosis 
2020 
2021 
2022 
2020-2022 
n 
% 
n 
% 
n 
% 
  
% 
Respiratory 
3,574 
21.6 
4,894 
26.7 
5,723 
30.5 
14,191 
26.5 
Cardiovascular 
4,860 
29.4 
4,740 
25.9 
4,559 
24.3 
14,159 
26.4 
Neurological 
1,906 
11.5 
2,102 
11.5 
2,192 
11.7 
6,200 
11.6 
Gastrointestinal 
1,190 
7.2 
1,140 
6.2 
1,098 
5.8 
3,428 
6.4 
Infection 
803 
4.9 
816 
4.5 
991 
5.3 
2,610 
4.9 
Musculoskeletal 
715 
4.3 
778 
4.2 
823 
4.4 
2,316 
4.3 
Oncology 
784 
4.7 
775 
4.2 
733 
3.9 
2,292 
4.3 
Endocrine / metabolic 
807 
4.9 
1,034 
5.6 
800 
4.3 
2,641 
4.9 
Other 
1,883 
11.4 
2,015 
11.0 
1,825 
9.7 
5,723 
10.7 
Unknown 
5 
<0.1 
13 
0.1 
30 
0.2 
48 
0.1 
Total 
16,527 
  
18,307 
  
18,774 
  
53,608 
  
Diagnosis groups represented by ‘Other’ are: Blood / lymphatic, Body wall and cavities, Trauma, Multisystem, and Other. 
Respiratory primary diagnoses increased consistently and markedly over the three-year period of this report, 
comprising 30% of all admissions in 2022 representing a return to levels from pre-2020. Other primary 
diagnoses remained the same between 2021 and 2022 except for a decrease in endocrine/metabolic 
admissions but this still remains higher than pre-2020. 
 

PICANet State of the Nation Report 2023  
 
 
 
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Mortality within PICUs 
Table 3: Proportion of deaths in PICU of all PICU admissions, by country and year of admission 
  
2020 
2021 
2022 
2020-2022 
Country of admission 
n 
% 
n 
% 
n 
% 
n 
% 
England 
491 
3.7 
495 
3.4 
608 
4.1 
1,594 
3.7 
Wales 
12 
3.3 
15 
4.0 
14 
3.5 
41 
3.6 
Scotland 
27 
2.3 
23 
1.7 
32 
2.1 
82 
2.0 
Northern Ireland 
7 
2.0 
11 
2.5 
17 
4.0 
35 
2.9 
Republic of Ireland 
54 
3.9 
65 
4.0 
55 
3.4 
174 
3.8 
Total 
591 
3.6 
609 
3.3 
726 
3.9 
1,926 
3.6 
 
Table 4: Proportion of deaths in PICUs of all children’s deaths in the population: UK and Republic of Ireland 
Country 
2020 
2021 
2022 
2020-2022 
UK 
14.7% (n=537) 
14.2% (n=544) 
 17.7% (n=671) 
 15.5%(n=1,752) 
ROI 
21.2% (n=54) 
27.5% (n=65) 
 21.1% (n=55) 
 23.1% (n=174) 
UK and ROI 
15.1% (n=591) 
15.0% (n=609) 
 17.9% (n=726) 
 16.0% (n=1,926) 
Please note that the 2022 data for children’s deaths in the population are not currently available for England, Wales and Northern 
Ireland. For these nations the 2021 data are used as the population data in 2022. 
Numbers of admissions resulting in death when admitted to a PICU remain low. Overall, 96.4% of children 
admitted to a PICU survived and were discharged alive. The proportion of admissions resulting in death 
increased from 2021 to 2022, from 3.3% to 3.9%. In Northern Ireland the proportion of deaths increased 
from 2.5% to 4.0% between 2021 and 2022, although the single PICU in Northern Ireland was not identified 
as an outlier for mortality when risk adjustment was taken into account (see figure 5). Around 18% of all 
childhood deaths in the UK in 2022 occurred within a PICU, although this figure was higher in the ROI 
(21%). 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

PICANet State of the Nation Report 2023  
 
 
 
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Key Metrics 
Metric 1: Case ascertainment and timeliness of data submission for 2022 admissions 
 
Figure 1: Proportion of admission records completed within 2 months of discharge from PICU, 2022: UK and 
Republic of Ireland 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
A PICANet database outage took place between March and June 2022. These figures are therefore 
restricted to the period following the outage from July – December 2022. 80% of admissions were 
completed within two months of discharge. This is lower than 88% in 2021, although the timeliness threshold 
in 2021 was completion within three months of discharge. Despite these challenges, nineteen units 
submitted over 80% of their admissions within two months (PCCS Quality Standard 2021), outside the 
period affected by the outage. 
Proportion of PICU 
admission records 
meeting the 2 month 
Paediatric Critical Care 
Society Quality Standard 
in 2022*  
*Excludes PICU admission records affected by the PICANet 
outage in 2022. For more details see ‘Important notes’ in the 
State of the Nation Report 2023 Appendices 

PICANet State of the Nation Report 2023  
 
 
 
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Metric 2: Transport team mobilisation times 
 
Figure 2: Number of non-elective transports to PICU by time to mobilisation: UK and Republic of Ireland 
 
The number of non-elective transports undertaken by a paediatric critical care transport team to a PICU 
increased slightly from 4,324 in 2021 to 4,505 in 2022 (Figure 2). Of those journeys carried out in 2022, 67% 
were started within 30 minutes vs 65% in 2021 and 64% in 2020, whilst over 83% started within one hour of 
the clinical decision being made. Just over 4% of journeys in 2022 started more than three hours after the 
decision to transport the child to PICU, similar to 2020 and 2021. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

PICANet State of the Nation Report 2023  
 
 
 
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Metric 3: Emergency readmissions within 48 hours 
 
Table 5: Emergency readmission within 48 hours of discharge by country of admission  
  
2020 
2021 
2022 
2020-2022 
Country of admission 
n 
% 
n 
% 
n 
% 
n 
% 
England 
216 
1.7 
229 
1.6 
219 
1.5 
664 
1.6 
Wales 
4 
1.1 
4 
1.1 
5 
1.3 
13 
1.1 
Scotland 
25 
2.1 
33 
2.4 
30 
2.0 
88 
2.2 
Northern Ireland 
4 
1.1 
6 
1.4 
3 
0.7 
13 
1.1 
Republic of Ireland 
24 
1.7 
30 
1.9 
24 
1.5 
78 
1.7 
Total 
273 
1.7 
302 
1.7 
281 
1.5 
856 
1.6 
 
The proportion of emergency readmissions within 48 hours of discharge for the UK and ROI decreased 
slightly from 1.7% in 2021 to 1.5% in 2022. Proportions were slightly higher in Scotland (2.0%) in 2022 and 
lower in Northern Ireland (0.7%). 
 
Figure 3: Relative rate of emergency readmission within 48 hours of discharge by PICU, 2020-2022 
 
 
. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Organisation Key 
 
The overall emergency readmission proportion within 48 hours decreased from 1.7% in 2021 to 1.5% in 
2022 (Table 5). This was driven by a decrease in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Republic of 
Ireland. Proportions remained higher in Scotland when compared to all other nations and lower in Northern 
Ireland. 
There were also substantive differences in emergency readmission rates by unit, which varied between 
0.3% and 1.7% the overall UK and ROI rate (Figure 3).  
 
 
 

PICANet State of the Nation Report 2023  
 
 
 
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Metric 4: Unplanned extubations in PICU 
 
Table 6: Unplanned extubation rates per 1,000 days of invasive ventilation by country and year 
Country of 
admission 
2020 
2021 
2022 
2020-2022 
n 
rate 
n 
rate 
n 
rate 
n 
rate 
England 
191 
4.5 
209 
4.3 
229 
4.2 
629 
4.4 
Wales 
5 
7.4 
3 
4.4 
2 
1.8 
10 
4.1 
Scotland 
18 
5.7 
16 
4.8 
23 
6.5 
57 
5.7 
Northern Ireland 
1 
0.9 
5 
4.0 
8 
6.4 
14 
3.8 
Republic of Ireland 
12 
2.4 
31 
6.2 
30 
6.1 
73 
4.9 
Total 
227 
4.4 
264 
4.5 
292 
4.5 
783 
4.5 
 
 
Figure 4: Unplanned extubation rates per 1,000 days of invasive ventilation by health organisation, all admissions, 
2020-2022 
 
 
Organisation Key 
 
The rate of unplanned extubations across the UK and ROI remained constant over the reporting period at 
4.5 per 1,000 days of invasive ventilation (Table 6). In 2022, higher rates were evident in Scotland (6.5), 
Northern Ireland (6.4) and ROI (6.1), although a consistent year-on-year increase was only observed in 
Northern Ireland. Two units had no unplanned extubation events reported on PICANet for 2022. Seventeen 
PICUs demonstrated a decrease in their unplanned extubation rate when compared to 2021, with 12 units 
reporting an increase in their rate (Figure 4). In 2022, seventeen PICUs (57%) met the NHS England target 
(PIC08a) of an unplanned extubation rate below 5.0 per 1000 ventilated days.  
 
 
 

PICANet State of the Nation Report 2023  
 
 
 
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Metric 5: Mortality in PICU 
 
Figure 5: Risk-adjusted Standardised Mortality Ratio (SMR) by health organisation for under 16-year-olds, 2020–
2022 
 
Key         
                 SMR = 1 (expected deaths are equal to observed deaths) 
                99.9% control limits2  
Organisation Key 
 
There were no PICUs with an excess mortality rate compared to what would be expected based on the level 
of sickness at the time of admission across the three-year reporting period. This is demonstrated in Figure 5, 
where none of the unit-specific SMR estimates are above the top control chart limit. One unit, Southampton 
Children’s Hospital (organisation code R), had lower mortality rates than would be expected and was 
therefore classified as a positive outlier. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                             
2 For more information please see the PICANet outlier policy 

PICANet State of the Nation Report 2023  
 
 
 
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Organisation Key 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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