Early identification of clinical deterioration in hospitalised patients is important to prevent subsequent cardiopulmonary arrest and reduce mortality. Understanding where and why the care process fails, resulting in the inability to recognise patient deterioration, can help healthcare staff and organisations to prioritise and improve patient safety. This article is based on interagency work undertaken by the National Patient Safety Agency and guidelines produced by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

Early identification of clinical deterioration in hospitalised patients is important to prevent subsequent cardiopulmonary arrest and reduce mortality. Understanding where and why the care process fails, resulting in the inability to recognise patient deterioration, can help healthcare staff and organisations to prioritise and improve patient safety. This article is based on interagency work undertaken by the National Patient Safety Agency and guidelines produced by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

This article describes two initiatives from the National Patient Safety Agency, which were developed to address important areas of harm to patients. This harm stems from failing to recognise or respond appropriately to deteriorating patients and errors in pre-operative and peri-operative care of surgical patients. Both initiatives used principles of standardisation, reliability and human factors to develop tools and checklists to improve patient safety, with a common approach to supporting implementation. The article describes further advances and developments aimed at increasing and sustaining improvement, including the use of technology to reduce human error.

This article describes two initiatives from the National Patient Safety Agency, which were developed to address important areas of harm to patients. This harm stems from failing to recognise or respond appropriately to deteriorating patients and errors in pre-operative and peri-operative care of surgical patients. Both initiatives used principles of standardisation, reliability and human factors to develop tools and checklists to improve patient safety, with a common approach to supporting implementation. The article describes further advances and developments aimed at increasing and sustaining improvement, including the use of technology to reduce human error.