After Intensive Care
Following patients and families for a year after an intensive care stay.
RecruitingEthics TEST/2026/007
Research that follows patients from the ward to home.
Five research groups working across four themes to make surgery, intensive care and rehabilitation safer and kinder.
Studies looking for people now
All 8 recruiting studiesBreathe Easy at Home
Guided breathing and strength exercises by video call in the first eight weeks home after intensive care.
RecruitingEthics TEST/2026/066
Fit for Surgery
A four-week home exercise and nutrition programme before major surgery.
RecruitingEthics TEST/2026/031
Follow-up in the Community
Post-operative check-ups at a local community clinic instead of the hospital.
RecruitingEthics TEST/2026/058
Welcome from the Head of Department
Our department brings together surgeons, intensivists, physiotherapists, nurses, engineers and community partners. We study what happens to people before, during and long after their time in hospital, and we put the answers back into care.
This site is the front door to that work: our themes, our groups, the studies you can join and the people behind them.
Research themes
About the themes
Earlier detection and smarter tests
Finding complications sooner, with tests that are quicker, cheaper and kinder to patients.
5 studies
Recovery and rehabilitation
What helps people get back on their feet after surgery, intensive care or injury, and how to make it last.
10 studies
Care closer to home
Moving follow-up, monitoring and rehabilitation out of the hospital and into communities.
9 studies
Fair access and community partnership
Designing studies with communities, so the benefits of research reach everyone who needs them.
6 studies
Research groups
All groupsInflammation and Healing Lab
How the body's immune response shapes healing after major surgery.
4 studies3 people
Perioperative Outcomes Group
Better decisions before, during and after an operation.
3 studies3 people
Critical Care Recovery Group
Life after intensive care, for patients and their families.
4 studies2 people
Digital Rehabilitation Lab
Wearables, apps and remote coaching for rehabilitation.
3 studies2 people
Community Trials Unit
Trials designed with, and run in, the communities they serve.
3 studies2 people
Our people
Meet everyoneAssociate Professor Ilse Brannagan
Group Leader, Critical Care Recovery Group
Dr Felix Ormsby
Group Leader, Digital Rehabilitation Lab
Dr Priya Castellane
Group Leader, Community Trials Unit
Dr Tobias Wrenfield
Group Leader, Perioperative Outcomes Group
Professor Marguerite Ashdown
Group Leader, Inflammation and Healing Lab
Latest news
All news and mediaFit for Surgery opens to new participants
Our home prehabilitation trial is now recruiting at Tidewater Regional Hospital.
Wound Check by Phone is open
Reposted from the Inflammation and Healing Lab's LinkedIn page. The lab's new study asks whether wound photos sent from home can spot infection early.
Webinar: life after intensive care
A recording of our public webinar with patients and families is now online.