Sepsis

Please note, this programme of work has been completed and is no longer being updated. The below information is provided for reference only. If you would like more information on this programme, please get in touch. 

Wessex PSC is working with organisations across Wessex to reduce harm related to sepsis.                                           

Sepsis

123,000 cases of sepsis occur in England each year with approximately 37,000 deaths annually: this is more than breast, bowel and prostate cancers combined. Prompt recognition of sepsis and rapid intervention will help reduce the number of deaths occurring annually.

Imperial College Health Partners Suspicion of Sepsis Insights Dashboard

Launched in Autumn 2018, with Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock, the Suspicion of Sepsis (SOS) Insights Dashboard tool for the first time ever enables organisations to see an overall picture of hospital admissions coded in the SOS category and to base improvement initiatives on reliable, stable and consistent data.

The SOS Insights Dashboard has been created by Imperial College Health Partners (ICHP) through the Patient Safety Collaborative (PSC), in Collaboration with NHS Improvement and NHS England. It builds on the methodology for measuring sepsis previously published by Health Innovation Oxford. 

Using this multi-user, web-enabled and interactive dashboard, improvers can visualise the impact of interventions and tell a story about their improvement journey. It is also a handy tool for engagement with system partners to share best practice and learning.

The SOS-Insights Dashboard is designed as an open resource for all and an NHS login is not required to use it.

Opportunity to learn, shape and build on the Suspicion of Sepsis Insights Dashboard (ICHP) 

Imperial College Health Partners are building on their SOS Insights Dashboard work further through a series of webinars which can be viewed on their Suspicion of Sepsis Insight Dashboard Webinars webpage.

Sepsis Resources

Health Innovation Oxford Deterioration Programme Resources include many useful Sepsis related resources including access to the monthly Sepsis Bulletin (a Bodleian Library resource).

The UK Sepsis Trust (UKST) Professional Resources

UKST recognises that we urgently need the healthcare community to help us spot sepsis more easily. To support a standard approach to spotting and managing sepsis, they have created a series of free clinical tools and learning resources which can be found on their Professional Resources page.

"THINK SEPSIS"

“THINK SEPSIS” is a Health Education England programme aimed at improving the diagnosis and management of those with sepsis. 

The e-Learning for Healthcare website has a film and a wide range of learning materials that support the early identification and management of sepsis for primary care, secondary care and paediatrics. 

More information on HEE’s work on sepsis can be found on the HEE website.

Think Sepsis -  Leadership in Acute Care. 

Part of HEEs "Think Sepsis" programme - Sepsis Leadership in Acute Care is a learning resource for executive, non-executive and management level staff in trusts on sepsis, incorporating antimicrobial resistance and stewardship.

This training programme gives specific context for boards to understand the clinical priorities within healthcare and how boards and clinical leaders can work together to deliver of high quality safe care.

The training consists of an e-Learning session to be taken independently, to be followed by a facilitated discussion with board members and clinical staff.

It encourages engagement and debate within a trust, to understand locally what appropriate care looks like and what a board should be doing to deal with specific issues within their trust to maintain good standards on the quick recognition, management and treatment of sepsis and in improving standards of antibiotic prescribing.

These free resources are available as part of the "Think Sepsis" programme on the e-Learning for Healthcare platform.  

Think sepsis: a film for all healthcare workers involved in the care of sick children

This awareness-raising teaching video from Health Education England has been developed to help health care professionals spot and respond to the warning signs of sepsis in children.

Sepsis Guidance (including use of NEWS2) in Primary Care

Sepsis: Guidance for GPs" (RCGP 2018) notes a culture shift from accepting that sepsis is often hard to detect, to one where it is actively being assessed whenever infection is being considered as a cause for significant illness or deterioration.

The use of NEWS isn’t advocated as a replacement for clinical judgement, but physiological assessment must be undertaken when considering sepsis and/or the deteriorating patient. The RCGP note that NEWS offers a template for doing this and may be considered as a potential adjunct to the assessment process and it also offers a useful shared language for communicating concern between clinical services and clinicians.

Deteriorating Patients - An introduction for GP reception staff (H&SH and HEE) notes that reception staff are commonly the first point of contact for people with acute health needs. This programme has been developed to support them in recognising specific symptoms that may indicate a deteriorating patient, and how they would consider escalating this to a clinician within the service/practice in which they operate. 

Both of these documents can be downloaded from the resources tab on the right hand side of this page.

Sepsis Training Resources

Sepsis Toolkit - Resources to support the management of patients with sepsis - RCGP 

Sepsis - Advice for members of the public (from NHS Choices - July 2017)

Sepsis is a rare but serious complication of an infection. Without quick treatment, sepsis can lead to multiple organ failure and death.

If sepsis is detected early and hasn't yet affected vital organs, it may be possible to treat the infection at home with antibiotics. Most people who have sepsis detected at this stage make a full recovery.

Almost all people with severe sepsis and septic shock require admission to hospital. Some people may require admission to an intensive care unit (ICU). Because of problems with vital organs, people with severe sepsis are likely to be very ill and the condition can be fatal.

However, sepsis is treatable if it is identified and treated quickly, and in most cases leads to a full recovery with no lasting problems.

The Health Innovation Network South London has been working in partnership with NHS England and the ASK SNIFF Safety Netting Collaborative to produce 'Spotting the signs of sepsis in under 5s'.

The film, featuring NHS paediatrician and TV presenter Dr Ranj Singh, has been designed to raise awareness of sepsis amongst parents of children under 5, as well as to standardise the information clinicians provide for parents of children with fever well enough to be cared for at home. Digital information packs to accompany the film are available to Emergency Department clinicians and also for clinicians in primary care.

If you'd like more information about the HIN South London/NHS England sepsis project, please visit the Health Innovation Network South London website.   

Co-production (Working with Patients and Carers)

As with all our work, the Sepsis workstream is underpinned by the principles of co-design and co-production – that is to say that we place the patient/carer at the heart of what we do. We want to ensure that users' own experiences help shape our work.

To achieve this we use the ARISE+ model (Aims, Recruit, Integrate, Support & Evaluate) which outlines a practical approach to co-production. It has been designed (with improver feedback) to support the integration of patient and carer representatives within Quality Improvement projects.

Developed by the Wessex Patient Safety Collaborative, the ARISE+ model helps individuals, teams and organisations to start conversations around effective co-production.

More information about Wessex PSCs work on patient engagement can be found on our Working with our patients and public web page here.

If you have any questions about the Sepsis workstream, or any other aspects of the Wessex Patient Safety Collaborative, please contact us via the link below.