When people suffer from sepsis, the body’s immune system goes into overdrive, setting off a series of reactions including widespread inflammation, swelling and blood clotting. This can lead to a significant decrease in blood pressure, which can in turn reduce the blood supply to vital organs, starving them of oxygen. If not treated quickly, sepsis can lead to multiple organ failure and death.

The early treatment of sepsis is not complicated or expensive, involving IV antibiotics along with IV fluids and supplemental oxygen where appropriate.

Sepsis can affect people of any age; it is most common in the elderly and the very young. For some people – such as older people with advanced frailty, dementia or cancers – sepsis is a common and sometimes unpreventable cause of death.

The chances of neonatal sepsis occurring are increased by premature birth, rupture of the mother’s membranes more than 24 hours before delivery, by the mother having Group B Streptococcus (GBS) infection whilst pregnant, having a previous baby with GBS, and maternal fever.

Over the last decade sepsis has been a key topic of focus,  and the public and healthcare professionals are more aware of the signs and symptoms; this coupled with a change in coding policy has led to an increase in the number of people being identified and diagnosed with sepsis.

NEWS2 supports the detection of sepsis by helping healthcare professionals to identify patients with acute clinical deterioration, including those who may have sepsis, through systematic monitoring of vital signs. It serves as a common language of illness severity and signals the need for early escalation of care; it is an aid to clinical judgement and decision making.

Safety netting is where a patient with an infection has been clinically assessed and thought not to have sepsis but the patient/carer is given information on what to look out for that should prompt them to seek further clinical assessment.

GP software providers have been asked to include sepsis safety netting resources that GPs can pass on to patients/carers, especially the parents of children with infections.

Sepsis is treated with antibiotics, however understandable concerns from patients, carers and healthcare professionals can lead to ‘just in case prescribing’ of antibiotics even where there is little evidence of a bacterial infection.

Antibiotics are not effective in treating non-bacterial infections (for example, viral infections). Their inappropriate use increases the future risks of  antimicrobial resistance  (AMR) and poses a significant threat to the delivery of healthcare. It is therefore imperative to ensure that the appropriate use of antibiotics is built into all activities, communication, training and actions relating to the optimal management of suspected infections for patients, carers and healthcare professionals.

The NICE guidelines on antibiotic prescribing and NICE’s guideline on antimicrobial stewardship emphasise the importance of antimicrobial stewardship to optimise antibiotic use and reduce resistance.