Nurse’s charts set to save thousands of lives in NHS

Nurse consultant Rachel Binks, from Airedale Hospital, has been involved in creating a standardised colour-coded observation chart to be used by nurses across the country.

The new chart, launched at the end of July, is based on the National Early Warning Scoring system (NEWS) and will involve measuring and recording a patient’s respiratory rate, oxygen saturation levels, temperature, systolic blood pressure, pulse rate and level of consciousness.

Ms Binks, who has just stepped down from being chair of the Royal College of Nursing’s critical care forum after four years, was also on the working party which developed the system to identify adult patients needing urgent medical attention because they are deteriorating. The working party was led by the Royal College of Physicians and involved the Royal College of Nursing.

Ms Binks said: “The whole point of the exercise was to make sure that everyone was speaking the same language. The new models should make it clearer for all staff and easier and quicker for them to get help from a team with acute care skills when they need it for very sick patients.

“The score and observation chart could now be used not only across different hospitals but by other health professionals such as GPs, community hospitals and ambulance services.”

Healthcare professionals previously faced the problem of more than 100 different versions of early warning scores used in hospitals nationwide. Some wards in the same hospital even had different systems.

“This was confusing for staff, especially if patients were transferred to a different place for treatment,” said a spokesman for Airedale NHS Foundation Trust.

Airedale Hospital has been using its own early warning system for the past 10 years to escalate any concerns about patients on a ward up to a critical care outreach team who are on duty 24 hours, seven days a week.

Ms Binks, who works for Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, has been on the Royal College of Nursing’s steering committee since 2003 and contributed to policy for critical and acute care.