NHS Confederation Deputy Director of Policy Jo Webber has commented on the call for a National Early Warning Score system from the Royal College of Physicians, saying:

“Patient safety should be the absolute top priority for all NHS organisations, from frontline staff right up to board level. It is everyone’s responsibility and everyone needs to understand what it means for them.

"Where there are proven processes that improve the quality of care, we believe that their systematic and consistent roll out should be supported across the whole NHS. For example, we already know that use of the WHO checklist for surgery improves the quality and safety of surgery.

"The indications from the Royal College of Physician are that their proposed NEWS system could have similar benefits for patients, and provide a systematic early-warning system for identifying when a patient’s condition is deteriorating so that prompt remedial action can be taken.

"However, we know that the real challenge now will be for the Royal College of Physicians to work with NHS organisations to secure its consistent adoption across the NHS, including across whole care pathways. Doing so should help to improve the quality of care for individual patients and also help to get patient safety to the highest levels."