There’s nothing more worrying than watching as your child’s health worsens and not knowing what to do about it, or feeling like you’re not being listened to by the people charged with helping to make them better.
So, it’ll come as a relief to parents that the NHS is launching a new warning system to help identify children whose health is deteriorating in order to help escalate their hospital care.
What is the warning system?
The system allows doctors to track possible deterioration in a child’s condition on a chart, measuring things like blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen levels and levels of consciousness, with different scores representing the level of concern.
While many hospitals already have similar systems in place, this change will provide a single, national standardised process for patients, families and staff to have a clear way of ensuring issues are detected and escalated quickly.
The key takeaway is that 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.
Health minister Maria Caulfield said: “This single, national, early warning system, specific to children, will save lives by helping to spot a deterioration in a child’s condition quickly.
“We know from the tragic case of Martha Mills that it’s vital to give parents a voice when it comes to the care of their child and so it will be reassuring to families that as part of this system, parents will be heard.”
In 2021, 13-year-old Martha Mills suffered a pancreas injury while cycling, but ended up tragically dying from sepsis.
In 2022, a coroner ruled that she would have survived if doctors had spotted the warning signs and moved her to intensive care sooner, according to The Guardian.
How does the warning system work?
The tool has been in development for over three years with pilots running across 15 sites. It has four separate charts, each covering a different age range, including 0-11 months, 1-4 years, 5-12 years, and those aged 13 and over.
The system will enable NHS teams to use straightforward, standard scoring systems to track a child’s vital signs, with evidence from pilot sites demonstrating clear benefits for patients and staff alike.
The NHS said it will roll out a leaflet and video content for parents, letting them know how to communicate concerns to healthcare staff and encouraging them to escalate if needed.
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, said: “The rollout of the National Paediatric Early Warning System has been years in the making and I know NHS staff and patients alike will welcome the introduction of this standardised system across hospital settings, allowing dedicated clinicians to observe, track and identify deterioration in children’s conditions to get them the help they need faster and more easily.
“We know that nobody can spot the signs of a child getting sicker better than their parents, which is why we have ensured that the concerns of families and carers are right at the heart of this new system with immediate escalation in a child’s care if they raise concerns and plans to incorporate the right to a second opinion as the system develops further.”