​Sepsis: Is enough being done to raise awareness?

Sepsis is defined as a life-threatening condition which arises when the body’s response to infection injures its own tissues and organs. Sepsis can also be referred to or known as blood poisoning or septicaemia and is triggered by the body’s immune system going into overdrive as it tries to fight infection.

What are the symptoms of sepsis?

Unfortunately these symptoms can be linked with much more common ailments such as flu and a lack of understanding about sepsis and its potentially fatal consequences can lead to a lack of recognition both by the general public but also, worryingly, within the medical profession.

Recent research by Health Education England has revealed that whilst almost all hospitals offer sepsis training for nursing staff, around a quarter did not provide the training across all nursing specialties. The research also noted that there was a concern about the lack of training in the community and social care organisations.

A number of initiatives have recently been announced to tackle the gaps in medical professional’s knowledge of sepsis and limit the number of serious consequences and fatalities caused by this most sinister of conditions.

The research found that sepsis training was most commonly offered to nurses in emergency departments of critical care but only 78% of NHS Trusts who responded to the research said they provided training to nurses working across all specialties within hospitals. This clearly highlights the gap in sepsis training and resulted in Health Education England making a total of 21 recommendations to help bring about improvements to increase the recognition and appropriate clinical management of sepsis in line with updated guidelines.

The recognition of sepsis as being a significant cause of death and disability in the UK is nothing new. In September 2013 the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman, the body responsible for overseeing healthcare in the UK, produced a report entitled “Time to Act” dealing with severe sepsis with the underlying message that rapid diagnosis and treatment saves lives.

The report was the first clinical report produced by the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman and focused on ten cases they had investigated where patients did not receive the treatment they urgently required and in every case the patient died.

The ombudsman’s report quoted The Sepsis Trust which reported in 2010 that 37,000 people in the UK are estimated to die of sepsis every year. Most common causes of severe sepsis are pneumonia, bowel perforation, urinary infection and severe skin infections.

The ombudsman’s report was very clear that training and the following of guidelines would not only save lives but also save the NHS millions of pounds each year. The report from 2013 has clearly had a significant impact as in February 2016 new guidelines as to the international recognition of sepsis were issued in the UK and, as noted by the recent research, training on the guidelines and on diagnosis and treatment of sepsis in general is being rolled out.

However, how much about sepsis do the public know?

Whilst it is absolutely vital that appropriate sepsis training is given to all medical professionals to enable the quick recognition of sepsis leading to faster treatment which will undoubtedly save lives, those in the medical profession can only treat the patients they have in front of them. A lack of understanding of the symptoms and seriousness of sepsis leads some patients to delay seeking medical help. This has been highlighted clearly by the recent story of James Mackey who mistook sepsis symptoms for flu resulting in a delay in him seeking medical treatment and, sadly, losing both his legs as a result.

Mr Mackey reported feeling unwell in October this year but initially dismissed the symptoms for flu. It is easy to see from the symptoms listed on the NHS Choices website how Mr Mackey had thought he had flu as they are very similar. Unfortunately for Mr Mackey his condition deteriorated and he attended upon his GP who immediately called an ambulance and arranged for him to be taken to the Royal Berkshire Hospital where he was diagnosed with sepsis.

Whilst doctors were able to save Mr Mackey’s life by administering antibiotics, sepsis had caused the blood-clotting mechanism in his body to go into overdrive resulting in parts of the tissue in his legs dying. Doctors had no choice but to perform two below-knee amputations in order to save Mr Mackey’s life.

Mr Mackey, who is only in his 30s and father of three children, now faces the challenge of adapting to life with a bilateral below-knee amputation and with the need for prosthetics. Mr Mackey’s family have set up a GoFundMe page with the goal of raising £25,000 to help fund specialist prosthetics and adaptations to the family home to enable Mr Mackay to get around. Had Mr Mackey been away of the possibility that his symptoms were related to sepsis he may have sought help sooner and could have avoided his life-changing injuries.

Clearly public awareness of sepsis and the consequences of delays in treatment needs to increase to try and prevent such avoidable injuries from occurring again in the future.

Hannah Bottomley is a clinical negligence solicitor with PotterReesDolan. Should you have any queries about the issues raised in this article and wish to speak with Hannah or any other member of the team please contact us on 0161 237 5888 or email Hannah directly.