Early warning systems (EWS) are bedside tools used to assess basic physiological parameters to identify patients with potential or established critical illness. Evidence suggests that they may predict risk of intensive care admission, death and length of hospital stay. In 2017, the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) published an updated National Early Warning Score, referred to as NEWS2, based upon six physiological parameters. It is associated with specific clinical response recommendations in which a step change occurs at a threshold NEWS2 score ³5, requiring an urgent clinical response no matter what the presenting complaint or condition.
PIONEER geography
The West Midlands has a population of 5.9 million and includes a diverse ethnic and socio-economic mix. There is a higher than average percentage of minority ethnic groups. The region has a large number of elderly residents but has the youngest population in the UK. Birmingham has the highest birth rate in England. It also has the highest infant mortality rate. Regional life expectancy is 1.8 years less than in London. There are particularly high rates of physical inactivity, obesity, smoking and diabetes. Each day >100,000 people are treated in hospital, see their GP or are cared for by the NHS.
EHR
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) is one of the largest NHS Trusts in England, providing direct acute services & specialist care across four hospital sites, with 2.2 million patient episodes per year, 2750 beds and 100 ITU beds. UHB runs a fully electronic healthcare record (EHR) (PICS; Birmingham Systems), a shared primary & secondary care record (Your Care Connected) and a patient portal, ‘My Health’.
Scope
All hospitalised patients to UHB from 2000 – current day. Updated monthly. Longitudinal and individually linked, so that the preceding and subsequent health journey can be mapped, and healthcare utilisation prior to and after acute admission interrogated.
The dataset includes all admission ICD-10 and SNOMED-CT codes including medical, surgical, paediatrics. Serial, structured data pertaining to process of care (timings, staff grades, specialty review, wards), presenting complaint, all physiology readings (pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate, oxygen saturations), all blood results, microbiology, all prescribed and administered treatments (fluids, antibiotics, inotropes, vasopressors, organ support), all outcomes. Linked images available (radiographs, CT, MRI, ultrasound). Includes but not limited to COVID-19 wave 1 and wave 2 data.
Available supplementary data
Matched ‘elective’ controls; ambulance, 111, 999 data, synthetic data.
Available supplementary support
Analytics, and model build, validation & refinement; AI; data partner support for ETL (extract, transform and load) process; clinical expertise; patient and end-user access; purchaser access; regulatory requirements; data-driven trials; ‘fast screen’ services.
Further information including technical details, coverage, format and standards, provenance and related resources can be found on the link below.
https://web.www.healthdatagateway.org/dataset/a9018475-452b-4864-bbc3-80eda2067820
