Assessment of clinical risk in the out of hours hospital prior to the introduction of hospital at night

Abstract

Overnight medical cover in hospital is less than during daylight hours. We aimed to quantify the numbers of patients deteriorating overnight and their clinical outcome. Data was collected in real time on use of the Standardised Early Warning Score (SEWS), 'time to doctor', seniority of medical review and clinical outcome. 136 incidents of clinical concern were noted on the general wards with a median response time of 5 minutes for SEWS>4 and 10 minutes if SEWS<4. 159 incidents were recorded in critical care. There was significant inter-speciality variation in median response times and seniority of responding staff, particularly within critical care, which recorded the slowest times across the hospital. This will be reassessed following the establishment of Hospital at Night. © 2009 Rila Publications Ltd.