NHS workers urged to be alert for sepsis and treat within an hour

The NHS is being urged to be alert for the warning signs of sepsis, potentially fatal blood poisoning, and to treat adults or children within an hour.

New draft guidance to all health professionals, from GPs and practice nurses to hospital doctors, warns that patients can become very sick very rapidly and urges speedy review and treatment.

Professor Gillian Leng, deputy chief executive of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) which has produced the guidance, said: “Severe symptoms can develop in sepsis very quickly. If high-risk patients are not identified and treated promptly, people can be left with debilitating problems. In the worst cases, they may die.

“This quality standard highlights priorities in the continued fight to improve sepsis care. We know from recent case reviews that there are inconsistencies in how people’s symptoms are assessed in different settings. More can be done to provide rapid treatment.”

GPs, paramedics, A&E staff and other health professionals should know the symptoms to look for. They can include a mottled or ashen appearance, blueness about the skin, lips and tongue and a rash that does not go away when the skin is pressed.

Those at risk need to be seen by senior hospital staff and given antibiotics and fluids within an hour, says the guidance. If it will take longer than an hour to get to hospital, GPs, practice nurses and ambulance staff can give the life-saving treatment.

There are concerns that cases of sepsis, which can be caused by an infection in various parts of the body, are being missed. In 2015, an inquiry found that 40% of patients with sepsis who arrived in A&E had not been reviewed by senior doctors quickly enough. There were also avoidable delays in giving patients intravenous antibiotics in nearly a third of cases (29%).

“Every death from sepsis is a tragedy, yet too often the warning signs are missed – we need to get far better at spotting sepsis across the NHS and this advice shows how vital it is for clinicians to treat life-threatening symptoms as soon as possible,” said health secretary Jeremy Hunt.

“Our relentless drive to raise awareness of this deadly condition, as well as the tireless efforts of campaigners and families who have lost loved ones, has seen a million leaflets and posters already distributed to GP clinics, hospitals and other public places – helping raise awareness to fight against this devastating condition.”

Julie Mellor, the Parliamentary and Health Service ombudsman, said: “We are pleased Nice has produced this guidance following our recommendation to ensure faster diagnosis and treatment of sepsis, ultimately saving thousands of lives. We have seen too many cases of families who have lost their loved ones to this condition due to delays and missed warning signs.”

NHS workers urged to be alert for sepsis and treat within an hour

Health secretary launches campaign to help parents spot sepsis

Jeremy Hunt has launched a nationwide campaign to help parents spot the signs of sepsis.

The health secretary is hoping to raise awareness of the “devastating” condition, which causes about 37,000 deaths each year in England.

Hunt said: “We need to get far better at spotting it across the NHS. By raising awareness and improving clinical practice we will save lives in the fight against this horrible illness.”

The campaign, delivered by Public Health England and the UK Sepsis Trust, is part of measures by the NHS to tackle the condition, which arises as a complication of an infection.

It is aimed at parents and carers of newborns to four-year-old children.
Millions of leaflets urging parents to take their child to A&E or call 999 if their child is displaying symptoms will be delivered to GP surgeries and hospitals across the country.

Parents should take immediate action if their child looks mottled, bluish or pale, appears lethargic or difficult to wake, is abnormally cold to touch, is breathing rapidly, has a rash that does not fade when pressed or has a fit or convulsion.

Melissa Mead, who lost her baby son William to sepsis two years ago, will appear in a new film, which forms part of the campaign. She said: “Sepsis is a cruel, ruthless condition which doesn’t discriminate and can affect anyone. I hope this campaign reaches as many people as possible, so all parents out there know about sepsis and how serious it can be. The more parents know, the quicker they can act if they suspect their child may be suffering from sepsis – it could be life-saving.”

William Mead, who died two years ago. Photograph: Family Handout/PA

Mead, who is an ambassador for the UK Sepsis Trust, added: “I will never hear my sweet child say, ‘Mummy, I love you.’ I will never know the man that William would have grown to be. So please, it is too late for me to ‘think sepsis’, but it’s not too late for you.”

Hunt praised Mead and other “families who have tragically lost children to sepsis” for their help with the campaign.

Sir Bruce Keogh, the national medical director for NHS England said: “This campaign is an important addition to our ongoing work – we will never treat sepsis in time unless everyone ‘thinks sepsis’.”

Dr Ron Daniels, the chief executive of the UK Sepsis Trust, said: “With sepsis claiming over 37,000 lives annually in England, this awareness campaign is a crucial step forward. Clinicians and members of the public can save thousands of lives every year if they just ask: could it be sepsis?

“The UK Sepsis Trust welcomes this initiative, but system-wide improvements to sepsis care must follow. We’re delighted to have developed campaign materials that will empower parents to identify sepsis symptoms in their children and seek medical attention immediately.”

Sam Morrish, three, from Devon, died on 23 December 2010 from severe sepsis because of a catalogue of errors, including how his mother’s call was handled by NHS Direct, now replaced by the 111 service.

Call handlers failed to categorise the call as urgent, despite indications that his vomit contained blood. Even when hospital staff realised he was critically ill, they waited three hours before administering the antibiotics that could have saved his life.

His mother, Sue Morrish, said: “The sepsis campaign is hugely important to us and I know it will also be incredibly significant to other campaigning parents who have lost children to sepsis. We had never heard of the condition before Sam died. Had we known about it and what the signs were, then he could have survived.

“On the day that he died, he was going to be a shepherd in a nativity play. I know that the run-up to Christmas is incredibly busy for families but I appeal to all parents, if you see something about sepsis awareness on social media please share it. Sam never got the chance to be a shepherd – we don’t want other families to experience the same tragedy.”

Prof Paul Cosford, a medical director at PHE, said: “It is important that these messages are widely received, which is why I am writing with Sir Bruce Keogh to all NHS medical directors to highlight this campaign and the importance of making all staff aware of the signs of sepsis.”

Health secretary launches campaign to help parents spot sepsis

Spotting sepsis "could prevent 37,000 deaths a year"

Health officials are launching a campaign to help spot the early signs of sepsis, a condition that has been blamed for about 37,000 deaths a year in England. The campaign, run by Public Health England and the UK Sepsis Trust, is aimed at parents and carers of newborns to four-year-old children. It is part of a series of measures by the NHS to tackle the condition, which arises as a complication of an infection.

“We need to get far better at spotting it across the NHS. By raising awareness and improving clinical practice, we will save lives in the fight against this horrible illness,” said the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt.

Melissa Mead, a UK Sepsis Trust ambassador, whose baby son William died of sepsis two years ago, will appear in a new film that forms part of the campaign. “Sepsis is a cruel, ruthless condition that doesn’t discriminate and can affect anyone,” she said. “I hope this campaign reaches as many people as possible, so all parents out there know about sepsis and how serious it can be. The more parents know, the quicker they can act if they suspect their child may be suffering from sepsis – it could be life-saving.

“I will never hear my sweet child say, ‘Mummy, I love you.’ I will never know the man that William would have grown to be. So please, it is too late for me to ‘think sepsis’ but it’s not too late for you.”

Millions of leaflets urging parents to take their child to A&E or call 999 if their child is displaying symptoms will be delivered to GP surgeries and hospitals across the country. Parents should take immediate action if their child looks mottled, bluish or pale, appears lethargic or difficult to wake, is abnormally cold to touch, is breathing rapidly, has a rash that does not fade when pressed, or has a fit or convulsion.

Hunt praised Mead – as well as “families who have tragically lost children to sepsis” – for her help with the campaign.

Sir Bruce Keogh, national medical director for NHS England said: “This campaign is an important addition to our ongoing work – we will never treat sepsis in time unless everyone ‘thinks sepsis’.”

Dr Ron Daniels, the chief executive of the UK Sepsis Trust, said: “With sepsis claiming over 37,000 lives annually in England, this awareness campaign is a crucial step forward. Clinicians and members of the public can save thousands of lives every year if they just ask: could it be sepsis?

“The UK Sepsis Trust welcomes this initiative, but system-wide improvements to sepsis care must follow. We’re delighted to have developed campaign materials that will empower parents to identify sepsis symptoms in their children and seek medical attention immediately.”

Spotting sepsis "could prevent 37,000 deaths a year"

Sepsis campaign aims to save thousands of lives

Thousands of lives could be saved by urging unwell patients and their loved ones to ask doctors to check for sepsis, experts said as they announced a new campaign to raise awareness of the devastating condition.

Every year, sepsis, or blood poisoning, kills nearly a third of the 150,000 people it affects. But campaigners say better care could save as many as 13,500 lives, as well as up to £314m from NHS budgets.

After a report this month strongly criticised hospital bosses and doctors over the avoidable death of a 12-month-old boy from sepsis, Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, has agreed to help lead a campaign to encourage patients and doctors to look out for the symptoms of the condition.

The announcement came after Melissa Mead, whose infant son William died in 2014, and representatives from the UK Sepsis Trust (UKST) met Hunt at the Department of Health on Tuesday. Mead said she was “relieved and delighted” by the decision to launch the campaign.

“There’s going to be posters, there is going to be leaflets, there is going to be symptom cards, there is going to be a 90-second video which is going to be blanketed across social media to make sure we engage with the community when they are sitting on their sofas at home,” she said.

“It is really, really important that this is a campaign which continues to roll and have a journey and an evolution.

“Personally, I feel relieved because I’m here because William died but, equally, I’m stood here and we represent 44,000 people who die every year and 150,000 people who suffer with sepsis. This isn’t a one-off story, it affects so many people’s lives and it’s very important.”

Ron Daniels, chief executive of UKST, said the campaign was due to launch in mid-September. “This is being seen by the government as a priority, and an ongoing campaign. We discussed budgeting for next year, as well as for this year, and in the years beyond,” he said.

“What we are going to see is heightened awareness of the word ‘sepsis’, through the use of social media, direct marketing, posters in GPs surgeries, emergency departments and pharmacists, [as well as] the use of corporate partners to get the message out there.”

A major aim of the campaign, Daniels said, would be to prompt patients and their carers to ask: “Could it be sepsis?” He cited research published last year that found that where sepsis patients presented at hospital late, in more than 60% of cases it was because they had not contacted doctors.

“It wasn’t GPs missing it, it wasn’t ambulance services or 111 saying you’re fine to stay at home. It was people not picking up the phone to start with,” Daniels said. “And the delays were not a few hours, they were typically one to four days, and that can obviously be the difference between life and death. So it’s that piece of evidence that’s really spurred us to engage with the public, to get sepsis into their vocabulary, and empower them to ask the question.”

Sepsis can be triggered by any minor infection, or an injury as simple as a cut or an insect bite. Sufferers’ immune systems go into overdrive as they try to fight off the infection, causing their bodies to begin self-destructing by attacking their own tissues and internal organs.

Without early treatment, it can lead to shock, multiple organ failure, and death. But survivors also face serious consequences if they are not treated in time. Daniels said: “Between a fifth and a quarter of survivors have life-changing after effects. These can be physical. They can, in extreme circumstances, lose limbs. They can be more subtle physical problems like chronic fatigue or problems with muscle and joint pain.

“They can be psychological, which ranges from sleep disturbances, personality changes and anxiety through to post-traumatic stress disorder. And they can have cognitive problems. Around 15% of people who survive sepsis, particularly if they’ve needed intensive care, can’t perform as well as they did previously.

“What this means is that people struggle to return to work in their previous roles, and the psychological issues, as well as the physical issues, mean that people’s relationships are strained and relationships break down. Survival, if recognition has been delayed, can be life-changing and the potential consequences to the economy from this fiscal burden of people not being able to return to work [is] huge.”

Early symptoms of sepsis include fast breathing or a fast heartbeat, high or low temperature, chills and shivering. However, sufferers may or may not have a fever. Severe symptoms can develop soon after and include blood pressure falling low, dizziness, disorientation, slurred speech, mottled skin, nausea and vomiting.

Following the death of William Mead, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) said that doctors and nurses should treat people who show signs of sepsis with the same urgency as those suspected of suffering heart attacks. A separate report into the boy’s death criticised GPs, out-of-hours services and a 111 call handler who failed to spot he had sepsis caused by an underlying chest infection and pneumonia.

His mother said she hoped that the campaign, Nice guidelines, and the investigation into her son’s death would help to prevent future tragedies. “William died in 2014 and it was a year later that we received the NHS England report,” Mead said earlier on Tuesday.

“It’s taken seven months to reach this stage but, equally, you can’t put something out there that is not going to work and is not going to be engaging.

“Especially with the Nice guidelines, which came out last week, on sepsis, we’re in a position now we’re going to have joined-up writing and joined action and everyone is going to be thinking the same thing.

“I’m hoping today will be the last meeting, I’m not anticipating any more meetings.”

Sepsis campaign aims to save thousands of lives