City system to cut deaths in pregnancy goes global.

Byline: LIZA WILLIAMS

A SYSTEM that may prevent deaths in pregnancy and childbirth, pioneered at a Liverpool hospital, is attracting worldwide attention.

A Maternal Early Warning System (MEWS) was set up at Liverpool Women's Hospital in 2004, and is now being taken up by scores of hospitals throughout the country.

And hospitals In Canada, Australia and New Zealand are also interested.

Critical care midwives Clare Fitzpatrick, Pam Coffey and Pat Ryder were responsible for introducing the system after it had been devised by consultants and specialist midwives in the obstetrics department, along with rapid lines of communication at an early stage for women showing worrying signs.

Interest in the Liverpool system has stepped up following a recent government report indicating that some women were dying unnecessarily in the UK during pregnancy because indications of potential problems were not being picked up soon enough, and that an early warning system was needed.

MEWS is based on monitoring patients across a wide range of physiological observations, including heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, pulse and breathing rate.

The readings are entered on a chart that scores patients on each of these indicators, which are then added up.

The chart is based on a traffic light system. A high scores in the red section of the chart indicates that the patient is in danger and immediate action is required.

Amber indicates that caution and additional support is needed while green signifies that all is normal.

Ms Fitzpatrick said: "These indicators have been used for along time to monitor the general population.

"But it has sometimes been assumed that young, healthy women do not need this sort of monitoring. As a result, there have been cases in other hospitals in the UK where women have died unnecessarily because there was no system in place for picking up quickly on warning signs that could be acted upon.

"By identifying problems early on, obstetrics staff can take the necessary steps which in some cases could save lives."

All staff on Liverpool Women's Obstetrics Unit have been trained to carry out and act upon the scoring system.

Ms Fitzpatrick, who has now been invited to go to Australia to talk about MEWS, has already given presentations on the system to the Royal College of Gynaecologists and the National College of Midwives.