Background Titrated oxygen has been shown to significantly reduce mortality in patients presenting with acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)¹. All patients at risk of type 2 respiratory failure (T2RF) should be administered oxygen in accordance with British Thoracic Society Guidelines. However, the NEWS system proposed by the Royal College of Physicians makes no allowance for patients at risk of T2RF and may lead to potential over oxygenation in this group of patients².

Objective To assess the use of the NEWS in patients with T2RF in our district general hospital and to assess the safety of a modified system.

Methods Patients were selected from the Medical Admissions Unit. Inclusion criteria were oxygen prescription or oxygen in situ. Data were collected over 5 consecutive days. Conventional NEWS for these patients were compared with a system currently being piloted at Salford Royal Foundation Trust with modified oxygen saturation levels (SpO2) for patients at risk of T2RF (Table 1)

Results 69 patients were assessed. 32% (22/69) had risk factors for T2RF. 21 had COPD and one had sleep apnoea. 55% (12/22) had oxygen saturations in their target range or were above target saturations but on air. 32% (7/22) were on oxygen and had saturations above 92%. 14% (3/22) had saturations below 88%.

73% (16/22) of at risk patients had their scores altered when using the Salford EWS system. 69% (11/16) of these patients had their scores reduced. 4 patient’s scores were reduced by 3, 4 were reduced by 2 and 3 were reduced by 1. 31% (5/16) of patient’s scores were increased. 4 scores were increased by 2 and 1 increased by 1. The score differences were due to over oxygenation.

Conclusions The current NEWS system appears to increase the risk of over oxygenation in patients at risk of T2RF. Using a modified score for patients at risk of T2RF will reduces this risk.

With thanks Ronan O’Driscoll, Salford Foundation Trust for use of the modified Salford NEWS chart