New Children’s Health Warning System Rolled Out By NHS

The BBC has reported this week that NHS England will be rolling out a national early warning system to help medics spot and treat a deteriorating child patient quickly.

Not only that, but the new system will encourage medics to act on parents’ concerns.

The new system will have scores for signs such as blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen levels, which will be tracked on a chart. But, if a parent is worried that their child is sicker than the chart suggests, care will be rapidly escalated.

This type of system does already exist in some hospitals, but the nation-wide roll out will ensure a standardised system across all hospitals.

This roll out follows Patient Safety Commissioner, Dr Henrietta Hughes, recommending that Martha’s Rule be delivered across England’s hospitals, giving patients and families the right to an urgent second opinion and rapid review from a critical care team if they are worried about a patient’s condition.

NHS National Medical Director, Professor Stephen Powis, said:

NHS chiefs say that parents and carers are “at the heart of the new system”.

Comment

Any initiative that has the potential to save lives has to be a positive step in the right direction.

When a child’s medical condition deteriorates, time is of the essence, and it is reassuring to see that this is being acknowledged by the roll out of the new early warning system.

This new system will ensure that there are plentiful opportunities to spot clinical signs of deterioration and act on them as soon as possible.

Further than this, it finally gives a voice to families and carers and seeks to acknowledge that they should be heard when it comes to the care of their loved ones.

It will be very interesting to see how the early warning system goes once implemented in all hospitals, and to see whether it does indeed save lives.