The Department of Health is pleased to announce that Noble’s Hospital has recently gained accreditation to run a pioneering life-saving course for its clinical staff. Acute Life Threatening Events Recognition and Treatment (ALERT) is a multi-professional course that trains staff who treat acutely unwell patients to recognise the signs of deterioration in illness and act appropriately. The course complements the Noble’s Early Warning Score (NEWS) system of recognising deterioration in patients, which was introduced to Noble’s Hospital in 2010. The Resuscitation Training and Medical Education teams recently arranged for a visiting multi-professional faculty from Whiston Hospital, in Liverpool, to train 20 Noble’s Hospital nurses and doctors from a variety of specialities to become trainers for the ALERT course. Following this course, Noble’s Hospital has now become an accredited ALERT Training Centre and ran its first course at the end of July. Minister for Health, David Anderson MHK said, “This is a very innovative programme that puts our staff in an even better position to recognise and respond to the needs of very ill patients. We continually strive to develop ways in which we can improve the quality of care we give to our patients, and investing in the development of staff is critical to maintaining the high standards of care we currently provide to the Island.” It is recognised that many cardiac arrests which take place in hospital can be predicted, sometimes up to 48 hours prior to the arrest, and if the right action is taken at the right time, these might be prevented. Course Facilitator Dr Adrian Dashfield, Consultant in Anaesthetics and Pain Management said, “The multi-professional ALERT course was developed in response to awareness that many cardiac arrests and Intensive Care Unit admissions can be recognised and anticipated earlier and preventative action taken. The course is intended to help healthcare staff to anticipate, recognise and prevent critical illness at an earlier stage.” Dr Adnan Khan, Senior House Officer, who attended the course, said “It was a great experience to be on a training course which uses a structured and prioritised system of patient assessment and management to enable a pre-emptive approach to critical illness. Being a candidate to become an instructor will help to train many health care professionals which will make the hospital an even safer place.’’ - ENDS -