NHS trust pilots nine-point scale for grading parents' gut feelings in A&E
New NHS rules say family worries must raise the alarm at once; one hospital now triages the worries first.
A father at the Royal Eastbridge Infirmary has been waiting since Wednesday for his instinct to be banded. His feeling that his daughter is 'not quite right' is currently a band six.
The trust is the first to act on new NHS guidance that a worry from a parent, carer or child must escalate care at once. It has responded by triaging the worries. Each is graded on a scale from one, 'vibes', to nine, 'audible dread'. Only a seven or above reaches a doctor.
A senior concern officer, a post created this month, does the grading from a desk beside the vending machines. Parents who dispute their band may appeal within nine working days.
'A gut feeling is data like any other,' a trust spokesman said. 'It must be weighed, logged and, where it falls short, sent back to the parent for sharpening.' The system, he added, brings rigour to the hunch.
By Wednesday evening the desk had processed nine anxieties. The first band nine came from a nurse.
