Patient Safety Workshop: A Single Early Warning Score for the West of England

The West of England Patient Safety Collaborative, which is made up of all Clinical Commissioning Groups, NHS Trusts and social enterprises have chosen to work together to achieve a Single Early Warning Score to assess risk and spot deteriorating patients right across our health care system.

At this workshop we will work together to:

• Understand the benefits from a patient and clinician perspective
• Learn where Early Warning Scores have successfully improved outcomes
  • Map the approaches we use now for spotting deterioration and communicating to colleagues
  • Consider how primary care, the ambulance service and hospitals could work with community services and social care so all patients, in all settings, can benefit
  • Debate the obstacles to adopting a common approach
  • Set some priorities and a plan of action
  • Think about how we would measure our success and evaluate the impact.

This workshop is designed to bring together patients, senior clinicians from general practice, out of hours, emergency departments, critical care, wards, community services and social care. Each organisation will send a senior patient safety lead and we will involve colleagues from information technology departments, from NHS England and other partners.

• To understand the potential for Early Warning Scores to improve patient safety

• To hear from patients about their experiences and perspectives
• To engage with all West of England organisations about how best to engage them
• To identify champions to take the work forward
• To set initial priorities.

• Medical and Nursing Directors, Patient Safety leads
• Patient contributors, Health Watch
• Emergency Department Consultants, South West Ambulance Service
• GP leaders, Out of Hours services,
• Community services, social care