Aspect 2: identifying and managing the
care of newborn babies
The CQC team found from its visits that the
use of the Newborn Early Warning Trigger
and Track (NEWTT) tool varied across trusts
and was inconsistent. The report contains
an example of an important risk the team
uncovered on a visit. It is highly alarming and
shows a remarkable lack of what many would
regard as common sense:
‘In one trust, we saw that black
and white photocopies of NEWTT
were being used because the cost
of colour photocopying was too
expensive. The inspector identified
that this renders the red and amber
alert colouring as useless, and is
therefore a safety risk.’
CQC, 2016: 18
The CQC found evidence of variation in
the monitoring of blood pressure in newborn
babies. Only one trust that the CQC visited
had developed guidelines that specifically
outlined diagnosing neonatal hypertension.
Sources of guidance for best practice on
diagnosing hypertension were variable and
ranged from none to a variety of contacts.
‘In a couple of trusts that had special
care baby units or local neonatal
units, blood pressure was not routinely
measured on admission, even though
in one of these cases it was the trust’s
policy to do so.’