Update information

Update information

August 2021: We have:

  • reviewed the evidence on oxygen saturation thresholds for referral to hospital, admission, management and discharge

  • updated recommendations 1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.3.2, 1.4.4 and 1.5.1.

We have also added references to the December 2018 NHS England Patient Safety Alert on the risk of harm from inappropriate placement of pulse oximeter probes.

A patient safety alert has been issued which is relevant to both the recommendations that were changed in the 2021 update and also some that were outside of the scope of the update. Reference to the alert has been added to all recommendations where it is relevant, for consistency across the guideline.

Recommendations are marked [2021] if the evidence has been reviewed.

Recommendations marked [2015] last had an evidence review in 2015. In some cases, minor changes have been made to the wording to bring the language and style up to date, without changing the meaning.

Minor changes since publication

May 2022: We added text to indicate that pulse oximetry may be less reliable in people with dark skin. See recommendation 1.1.9.

November 2019: A link to the NICE guideline on sepsis and risk stratification tools for sepsis in under 5s was added to recommendation 1.1.6. Recommendations 1.2.3 and 1.3.3 were amended to clarify that any known risk factors for more severe bronchiolitis should be taken into account when deciding on referral or admission.

ISBN: 978-1-4731-1162-2

  • National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)