Abstract
It has been predicted that in the event of an influenza pandemic in the UK, there could be up to ten times the number of patients requiring critical care support than there are beds available. To aid rational, objective and ethical clinical decision making, the Department of Health recommends using the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score as a tool for triaging admissions to the critical care unit. This study assessed what effect using the SOFA score would have on capacity. Daily SOFA scores were calculated for all patients on the critical care unit over a one month period. Twenty-four per cent of patients did not meet the criteria for admission to the unit, which would have freed up 36% of bed days in the event of a pandemic. Using this scoring system in conjunction with other measures recommended by the national framework may help the hospital cope with the high demand for critical care beds in the event of an influenza pandemic.