Observations and changes to look out for in your child

Telling our staff about these changes can help us detect deterioration early so we can take action to prevent more serious health problems.

Recognising deterioration

Tell us early if you think your child is more unwell so we can do something to stop them getting worse.

You know your child best and we need you in our team. Tell us if you notice these changes

How we monitor your child

We monitor your child using a set of measures to look for any changes – this is called the Paediatric Early Warning Score (PEWS).

We need to do all these measures to tell us how well or unwell your child is and if they are getting better or not.

We will check these measures using a thermometer, a plaster or clip on the finger or toe and a cuff on the arm.

If your child becomes more unwell, we need to do these measures more often and may need to wake your child.

The measures we use

• Breathing rate
• Oxygen levels
• Heart rate
• Blood pressure
• Unusually sleepy
• Temperature
• Pain
• Parental concern