NHS Adds Early Warning Scores for Sick Children in A&E
Emergency departments in England are getting a system that scores how sick a child is, and a worry raised by a parent can trigger immediate escalation. The roll-out is aimed at the winter months, when NHS pressure peaks.
What the score checks
The National Paediatric Early Warning System, known as PEWS, has staff record and score vital signs, among them blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen levels. The higher the total, the more urgently the child needs to be seen.
A worry voiced by staff, a parent, a carer or the child is enough to set off an immediate escalation of care. NHS England built the system with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and the Royal College of Nursing.
A similar alert system for acutely ill adults, including those with sepsis, is already used in emergency departments and general wards. More than 90 hospitals in England have been using the children's version on paediatric wards, with different age-appropriate assessments from babies to teenagers.
The corridor-care case behind it
The announcement follows a promise by Health Secretary Yvette Cooper to stop "corridor care" for sick children, because of long waits for hospital beds. On the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, she discussed Finlay Roberts, who was two when he died in 2024 after spending hours in a hospital corridor before he was discharged.
Cooper apologised to his parents for the NHS. "No child should be treated in a corridor," she said.
A coroner raised concerns that busy staff had not carried out basic observations. Whittington Health NHS Trust, where Finlay waited, sent condolences to the family. It said it still faces periods of exceptional demand in emergency care, and that patients may at times be treated in temporary areas, corridors included.
Martha's Rule reaches A&E
The NHS has already said it will extend Martha's Rule to every hospital emergency department in England. Under the rule, patients, families and carers can request a rapid review when a patient seems to be deteriorating and staff have not responded to their worries.
It is named after Martha Mills, who died aged 13 in 2021 after developing sepsis in hospital following a bike accident. A coroner found that nobody listened to her family's concerns about her worsening condition, and that earlier transfer to intensive care would probably have saved her. Her parents, Merope and Paul, proposed the rule to change the culture that contributed to her death.
Each A&E unit will have a dedicated phone number for triggering an urgent review.
Duncan Burton, chief nursing officer for England, called the system an important next step for children's care this winter and beyond. He said a standard approach helps staff spot warning signs and make timely decisions.
Our view
The score gives rushed staff a shared way to record a child's vital signs, while the phone line gives families a route that does not depend on being noticed. Two points are not clear from the announcement: when each emergency department will switch the system on, and how a parent's alarm is weighed against the numbers when the two disagree.
Source: BBC News