Case Study: Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust achieves improved patient safety and a 6.13-day reduction in average length of stay with Cerner Rapid Response

Kingston Hospital increases patient safety, decreases average length of stay

Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, a 520‑bed hospital in Kingston upon Thames, faced a challenge of reactive critical‑care management: staff could not continuously observe all patients, which made it hard to identify and prioritize those at immediate risk and increased the chance of deterioration. The outreach team needed a way to spot and triage vulnerable patients earlier without relying on ad hoc paging and bedside observation.

The hospital implemented Cerner’s Rapid Response dashboard, which flags patients with high National Early Warning Scores (NEWS), alerts the outreach team, and provides drill‑down access to vitals, interventions and results. Between April and October 2016, the team saw a 19% increase in patients reviewed and achieved an average 6.13‑day reduction in length of stay for patients with NEWS ≥5, improving patient safety, timeliness of care and data quality.

Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Lucie Sulman

Critical Care Outreach Nurse