New system at Scunthorpe General Hospital to improve patient safety
A NEW system has been launched at Scunthorpe General Hospital to improve patient safety in the wake of a damning report.
A new type of documentation, the National Early Warning Score (NEWS), will replace the existing Patient At Risk Score (PARS) at the end of a patient's bed.
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Scunthorpe General Hospital
It follows the publication of a report by the group Transforming Health in September that, among other things, criticised documentation of patient statistics.
Now bosses say NEWS will provide a simple scoring system which is colour-coded in order to keep track of a patient's condition.
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The chart will be used to record measurements such as the patient's pulse rate, blood pressure and temperature.
These measurements help the nursing and medical teams decide the severity of illness of the patient and determine whether the patient needs more urgent care.
Karen Dunderdale, chief nurse at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust, said the trust has been looking at new ways to improve recording patient information.
She said: "Our trust has decided to implement the scheme early because we think it is a crucial piece of work to improve patient safety.
"We were criticised in the Transforming Health report about our poor documenting of a patient's statistics.
"NEWS is a coherent document which provides guidelines and clinical responses.
"It will help provide a more consistent way of monitoring patients. The introduction of the system has gone very smoothly and effectively.
"The success of the launch is down to our dedicated doctors and nurses who have adapted to the new system very quickly.
"The staff have really taken to it and I am very proud of them.
"We are planning to audit the scheme and monitor the results."
At present, NHS trusts use different early warning systems with different charts.
As doctors and nurses move around different hospitals during their training and careers, they are not familiar with each trust's system.
NEWS will help provide a consistency in detecting and responding to acutely ill patients.
Training on the new documentation has been given to all staff members.
Dr Dunderdale said: "All staff have been given training and a briefing on the scheme so they can all use it.
"It has been so successful we are now looking at using the scheme in the community.
"NEWS is simple to use and has definitely improved patient safety."
Comments
by scunnyexile
Thursday, December 20 2012, 12:19AM
“NEWS, PARS. Acronyms are the answer. Some Have It Taped.”
by HattyTood
Tuesday, December 18 2012, 2:28PM
“I do hope that all doctors, nurses and ward staff will be rigorously tested for colour blindness - mistakes are made when Red is Blue to some people”
by eggy123456
Tuesday, December 18 2012, 12:33PM
“More boxes to tick for staff who can barely cope with things now , lets hope this is the answer. I think most folk assumed if you were in hospital, the means to record your blood pressure temperature and pulse rate would already be in place.”