What We Do - Wythenshawe Hospital

The Service cares for patients with type two respiratory failure, who need a ventilator to help support their breathing at home. We also assess and provide devices for patients who have a weak cough, often as a result of a neurological condition, to improve the ability to clear phlegm from their chest. These devices can include the cough assist machine and lung volume recruitment bag.

What is type two respiratory failure?

With every breath you breathe in, oxygen from the air is taken into the body through the lungs. Our lungs are surrounded by blood vessels and oxygen moves into the body through these.

Carbon dioxide is a waste gas naturally produced by our body. This passes out of the body through the blood vessels and into our lungs and we get rid of this in the air we breathe out.

Sometimes there can be a problem with the ability of our body to get enough oxygen into our lungs and remove the waste carbon dioxide gas from them. When the body has low oxygen levels and high carbon dioxide levels, this is known as type two respiratory failure and if left untreated this can make you become very unwell. A number of different conditions can cause this including COPD, obesity, kyphoscoliosis and neurological problems such as motor neurone disease or muscular dystrophy.

If you have type two respiratory failure, a ventilator might be recommended to help treat your condition.

What is a ventilator and how does it work?

A ventilator is a machine that helps to support your breathing by pushing air into and out of your lungs. By doing this it helps you take a deeper breath in and out, which allows more oxygen to pass into your lungs and body and more carbon dioxide to be removed in the air you breathe out. The ventilator can be attached to your face through a mask covering your nose or mouth (non-invasive ventilation) or through a tracheostomy tube (invasive ventilation).

Here are some of the ventilators we use in our service:

When you come into the North West Ventilation Unit, if you need a ventilator, we’ll assess and provide you with the right machine to meet your needs. For further information on how to use your ventilator, please see the how to use your equipment section on this website.

What is a tracheostomy?

A tracheostomy is a small opening created on the front of your neck, into which a small tube can be inserted. A ventilator can be attached to this tube to help with your breathing. Sometimes a tracheostomy might be in place for a few days or weeks or it could be in place for several months, years or life-long.

What is a cough assist?

A cough assist is a machine that’s used to help clear your lungs of phlegm. The machine works by pushing air into your lungs to help them fill with air and then quickly sucking the air out, clearing phlegm as it does so. It can be used with a face mask or via a tracheostomy tube. Here are some of the cough assists we use in our service:

What is an LVR bag?

A lung volume recruitment (LVR) bag is a small self-inflating hand held plastic bag, with a one way valve attached to it. It attaches on to you through either a face mask or a mouthpiece. As you take a breath in, the bag is squeezed at the same time, allowing you to ‘breath stack’. By taking a bigger breath in we can then get more air out, which helps to improve the strength of your cough. The picture below shows what an LVR bag looks like: