Postoperative critical care and high-acuity care provision in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.

Background: Decisions to admit high-risk postoperative patients to critical care may be affected by resource availability. We aimed to quantify adult ICU/high-dependency unit (ICU/HDU) capacity in hospitals from the UK, Australia, and New Zealand (NZ), and to identify and describe additional 'high-acuity' beds capable of managing high-risk patients outside the ICU/HDU environment.

Methods: We used a modified Delphi consensus method to design a survey that was disseminated via investigator networks in the UK, Australia, and NZ.