1. All Together Better Sunderland
A Vanguard Multi-Speciality Community Provider
Care Home Digital NEWS tablet
Rachael Forbister – TECS Programme Manager
Jason Lewins – Support Officer

2. Introduction and background

3. Why focus on Care Home Residents ?
Complex healthcare needs, multiple long term conditions
Social care model is necessary but not sufficient
NHS withdrew services as independent sector grew over past 10 years
Care home providers cannot deliver improvement without support
No model of co-ordinated healthcare has been developed
Residents don’t have equitable access to healthcare leading to hospital admissions

4. What we did and how we did it

5. The National Early Warning Score (RCP 2012)
“Standardised assessment”

6. What is the National Early Warning Score ?
A simple scoring system in which a score is allocated to physiological measurements
Base line NEWS – ‘Track & trigger’ function
Person focused
Utility in all settings
Free e-learning package -

7. What NEWS means to care homes
Aids recognition of clinical deterioration
Standardises acute illness assessment in the community care setting
Enables communication to other HCP’s using a common language
Informs appropriate clinical response and pre-alert which defines appropriate level of on-going care required.
Decision support tool – ‘defensible decisions & actions’
Objective clinical information to support requests for home visits
Family and friends ‘confidence’

8. What does it mean for the care home staff?
Empowers the staff
Helps staff members look after the health of their residents more proactively
Upskills staff members and invests in the team
Helps keeps residents in their homes

9. Video clip

10. Clinical Response Tool

11. The Blue Box

12. Telehealth Whzan Kit Contents of kit: Blood Pressure Monitor
Pulse Oximeter
Thermometer
Digital Tablet
Battery Pack

13. Secure Login Screen

14. List of Residents Screen

15. Pulse Oximeter Screen

16. Graph View of readings

17. NEWS Screen

19. NEWS Score/Risk Rating

20. Case Study 1
Bill is a 70 year old resident with a 3 day history of a chest infection with a previous medical history of pneumonia. Bill has been recently prescribed Amoxicillin by his GP. He has been placed on daily NEWS to monitor his condition.
Respiratory rate = 20 breaths per minute
Oxygen Saturations = 94%
Supplemental oxygen = No
Temperature = 38.4
Systolic Blood pressure =150
Heart Rate = 105 beats per minute
Level of Consciousness = Alert

21. Result
NEWS=3

22. NEWS
Any Questions?

23. Expected Outcomes Reduction in 111 and 999 calls
Reduction in A&E visits and emergency admissions
Improved early detection of acutely unwell residents
Sharing of clinical information across all providers
Promotes collaborative working with providers
Improved safety and quality of information on handover

24. The Challenges! Culture change Training time Embedding the technology
Sustaining momentum
Investing the time

25. Contact details
Rachael Forbister
Jason Lewins