Summary of outcomes by National Early Warning Scores (NEWS) on referral
| Process outcomes | NEWS = NR (N= 2848) | NEWS = 0 to 2 (N= 5514) | NEWS = 3 to 4 (N= 2162) | NEWS = 5 to 6 (N = 1458) | NEWS ≥7 (N = 1065) | Overall (N= 13 047) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time from referral to arrival in hospital, median minutes (IQR)a,b | 79 | (48–142) | 74 | (47–122) | 79 | (50–126) | 85 | (57–132) | 90 | (64–127) | 79 | (50–129) |
| Conveyed by ambulance | 133 | (82–240) | 132 | (84–236) | 115 | (78–193) | 104 | (77–159) | 94 | (69–139) | 116 | (78–200) |
| Conveyed by other transportc | 71 | (44–124) | 68 | (44–106) | 72 | (46–110) | 75 | (49–118) | 85 | (60–119) | 71 | (46–112) |
| Time from arrival in hospital to review by doctor, median minutes (IQR)d | 80 | (36–156) | 78 | (34–158) | 72 | (34–144) | 68 | (31–130) | 54 | (25–114) | 74 | (33–148) |
| Grade of reviewing doctor, n (%)e | ||||||||||||
| Foundation year 1 | 172 | (6.4) | 357 | (6.8) | 148 | (7.1) | 113 | (8.1) | 68 | (6.5) | 858 | (6.9) |
| Foundation year 2/senior house officer | 1387 | (51.8) | 2479 | (47.4) | 1208 | (58.0) | 908 | (64.9) | 692 | (66.6) | 6674 | (53.7) |
| Specialty registrar | 647 | (24.2) | 1036 | (19.8) | 443 | (21.3) | 317 | (22.7) | 264 | (25.4) | 2707 | (21.8) |
| Consultant | 78 | (2.9) | 145 | (2.8) | 38 | (1.8) | 20 | (1.4) | 11 | (1.1) | 292 | (2.4) |
| GPf | 384 | (14.3) | 1177 | (22.5) | 242 | (11.6) | 39 | (2.8) | 4 | (0.4) | 1846 | (14.9) |
| Other | 8 | (0.3) | (31 | (0.6) | 4 | (0.2) | 2 | (0.1) | 0 | (0.0) | 45 | (0.4) |
| Clinical outcomes | ||||||||||||
| Length of stay, median days (IQR)g | 2 | (0–6) | 1 | (0–5) | 3 | (1–7) | 4 | (2–10) | 5 | (2–11) | 2 | (0–7) |
| Admission to ICU, n (%)g | 17 | (0.7) | 24 | (0.5) | 11 | (0.5) | 15 | (1.1) | 20 | (2.0) | 87 | (0.7) |
| Suspicion of sepsis, n (%)h | 374 | (17.9) | 764 | (19.8) | 655 | (36.9) | 676 | (51.3) | 669 | (67.1) | 3138 | (31.3) |
| Primary diagnosis of sepsis, n (%)h | 54 | (2.6) | 97 | (2.5) | 90 | (5.1) | 102 | (7.7) | 117 | (11.7) | 460 | (4.6) |
| 2-day mortality, n (%)h | 13 | (0.6) | 12 | (0.3) | 12 | (0.7) | 10 | (0.8) | 24 | (2.4) | 71 | (0.7) |
| 30-day mortality, n (%)h | 147 | (7.0) | 158 | (4.1) | 122 | (6.9) | 117 | (8.9) | 120 | (12.0) | 664 | (6.6) |
↵a Data missing for (NEWS categories as displayed), overall 298 patients (95, 118, 42, 27, 16).
↵b This is the time that patients arrive at the medical admissions unit. There is no triage before admission for these patients as they have already been triaged by the primary care GP so they are admitted straight onto the ward.
↵c Other transport includes, for example, car, taxi, and bus.
↵d Data missing for (NEWS categories as displayed), overall 685 patients (177, 303, 103, 66, 36).
↵e Data missing for (NEWS categories as displayed), overall 625 patients (172, 289, 79, 59, 26).
↵f In this particular hospital, there are GPs who manage ambulatory care.
↵g Data missing for (NEWS categories as displayed), overall 881 patients (241, 366, 122, 95, 57).
↵h Data missing for (NEWS categories as displayed), overall 3017 patients (762, 1660, 387, 140, 68). ICU = intensive care unit. IQR = interquartile range. NEWS = National Early Warning Score. NR = not recorded.