When a patient is acutely unwell and presents to a hospital, or deteriorates and becomes acutely unwell whilst in hospital, time is of the essence and a fast and efficient clinical response is required to optimise clinical outcomes.
The Royal College of Physicians recommends standardising the use of a NEWS system across the NHS to drive the ‘step change’ required in the assessment and response
to critical illness.
The NEWS system is based on a simple scoring system in which a score is allocated to physiological measurements already undertaken (e.g. respiration rate, oxygen saturation, temperature, systolic blood pressure, pulse rate and level of consciousness). NB: NEWS should not be used in children under 16 years or women who are pregnant.
Many of our Trusts have already implemented this recommendation. NHS Professionals is keen to ensure flexible workers have access to the latest national guidance and training and therefore has recently purchased the National Early Warning Scores (NEWS) eLearning module. Visit our Clinical Governance webpage to access the NEWS training at go.nhsp.uk/ClinicalGov