A newly-launched national early warning system designed for hospital staff to deal more effectively and quickly with rapidly deteriorating patients has not yet been adopted for maternity care.

This is despite the fact that the forthcoming report on the death of Savita Halappanavar at University Hospital Galway last October is expected to highlight the failure of staff to to recognise symptoms and respond in sufficient time to obvious signs of her deteriorating condition.

Savita Halappanavar was 17 weeks pregnant and was miscarrying when she attended University Hospital Galway on  October 21 - she died a week later as a result of sepsis.

A press launch for the national early warning system (NEWS) today was told that the new guidelines being rolled out nationally covered medical and surgical patients.

There are no early warning guidelines published as yet for dealing with rapidly deteriorating maternity patients, although these are expected to be produced in the near future.

The launch was told that around 80% of hospitals around the country are currently using the new early warning score for medical and surgical patients.

The 'alarm system' for dealing quickly with deteriorating patients would have been in place for medical and surgical patients at UHG last October, but not for obstetric patients, Eilish Croke, National Lead for the early warning score project, told the press launch.

Head of the HSE's Obstetrics Programme Prof Michael Turner said the current early warning system could not be just 'taken off the shelf' and applied to the pregnant patient, as the physiological changes of pregnancy had to be taken into account in drawing up guidelines, as well as the fact that you were dealing with two patients-the mother and child, and three in the case of twins.

He stressed that plans were well advanced for early warning guidelines for dealing with deteriorating patients in maternity care and an Irish maternity early warning system would be introduced in the first quarter of this year.

Prof Turner said the system had to be 'customised' for the pregnant patient and he believed Ireland would be the first country to introduce a national early warning system for maternity.

The new early warning score provides all hospitals with agreed guidelines about the best course of action when an acute adult patient's physical condition is deteriorating.

Early warning scores help early detection of a deteriorating patient by categorising their severity of illness and prompting nursing staff to request a doctor's review of the patient at specific 'trigger points' using a structured communication tool while following an agreed escalation plan for treatment.

The system involves staff adhering to a uniform structured system to recognise and act on signs and symptoms, including adopting clear communication methods between doctors and nurses when a patient is believed to be deteriorating.

The system is mainly applicable to acutely ill elderly patients in hospitals when their condition deteriorates.

The NEWS system, where it has been adopted in Ireland, has already led to a reduction in cardiac arrest and mortality rates in hospitals, the launch was told.

Prof Garry Courtney, HSE National Lead for Acute Medicine, said the early warning system was starting off in acute hospitals because that was where most deterioration of patients occurred. The acute hospital early warning guidelines would be followed by guidelines for maternity and paediatric care.

He said as a result of the new system, there was evidence from a number of major hospitals that there have been fewer cardiac arrest calls, fewer deaths among deteriorating patients and less demand on intensive care beds.

He said sepsis was the fastest growing cause of death among deteriorating elderly patients. Sepsis, if not treated, could lead to high blood pressure, organ collapse and death, he said.

Prof Courtney said one quarter of patients in intensive care units died of sepsis and the idea was to prevent them having to be admitted to ICUs by picking it up earlier on the wards.

He said if a patient with serious infection was detected earlier, antibiotics could be started on the ward and there would be no need to ventilate the patient at a later stage. This was not only beneficial to patients but would also save money for the hospital service.

Asked if it would be difficult for hospital staff to implement those guidelines with current staff pressures, Prof Courtney said the new system would creat less work for nurses and doctors.

He said the new early warning score was a 'good news story' for the health system.

Minister Reilly told the launch that Ireland, with the launch of NEWS, was the first country to have a nationally- mandated early warning system.

He said there had been in the past a failure to transpose excellence across the whole hospital system, and these guidelines would help improve the quality and safety of hospital care.