Using the National Early Warning Score (NEWS) outside acute hospital settings: a qualitative study of staff experiences in the West of England

Summary

Early warning scores were developed to improve recognition of clinical deterioration in acute hospital settings. In 2015, the West of England Academic Health Science Network supported the roll-out of the National Early Warning Scores (NEWS) across a range of non-acute-hospital healthcare sectors. The objective of this study from Brangan et al., published in BMJ Open, was to explore staff experiences of using NEWS in these new settings. This study demonstrated that while NEWS can work for staff outside acute hospital settings, the potential for routine clinical practice to accommodate NEWS in such settings varied.