FOI 25-594 PEWS and POPS
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 25-594 PEWS and POPS
- Request Date
- 29 Dec 2025
- Response Date
- 07 Jan 2026
- Information Requested
As part of the lecture there is a discussion around the Paediatric Early Warning Score (PEWS) and the Paediatric Observation Priority Score (POPS) tools, and the sporadic utilisation of them in the pre-hospital environment. I am aware that not every ambulance service in the UK uses either of these tools, however I do not have a definitive list of which ambulance services do or do not. If you are able to, would you please inform me as to whether either of these tools are used in SAS, or whether there are any future plans to introduce either tool please?
- Response
The Scottish Ambulance Service does not use PEWS or POPS within our core guidance, however, the ScotSTAR teams currently do recognise PEWS can be a useful screening tool for sepsis but are aware of the limitations.
The Scottish Ambulance Service is exploring the value of PEWS for pre-hospital application but do not hold information as to whether this may be introduced in the future.
