Nuffield brings in warning system
By a staff reporter
The UK’s largest healthcare charity, Nuffield Health, is implementing a standardised national paediatric early-warning system in its hospitals to help clinicians spot and treat a deteriorating child patient quickly and act on concerns.
NHS England announced last November that its hospitals were rolling out a new early warning system for doctors and nurses treating children to quickly identify deterioration, escalate care and act on parental concerns.
The system, called the National Paediatric Early Warning System (PEWS), is a collaboration between NHS England, The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and The Royal College of Nursing.
It allows doctors to track possible deterioration in a child’s condition on a chart, measuring blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen levels and levels of consciousness, with different scores representing the level of concern.
Thirty of Nuffield Health’s 37 hospitals see children and young people with a variety of conditions.
The operator said while these already had paediatric early-warning systems in place, this change would provide a single, national standardised process for patients, families and staff to have a clear way of ensuring issues are detected and escalated rapidly.
Alison McCourt
Clinical services director Alison McCourt said: ‘We owe our younger patients and their families the highest standards of quality and safety. If a parent or carer raises a concern that their child is getting ill or sicker than the score shows, this will immediately escalate the child’s care regardless of other clinical observations.
‘Nuffield Health hospitals are key parts of local connected healthcare systems and ensuring our early warning systems are consistent with the new national roll-out in the NHS will positively impact the care journey of our younger patients, their families and our clinical teams.’
Jamie Crew, Nuffield’s national lead for children and young people, said: ‘This is an important turning point in child health within the independent sector, mirroring the approach in the NHS.
‘We believe we are the first independent provider to implement this standardised change. It provides improved working methods and safety, supporting doctors and nurses to do the very best for the children and young people in their care.’