Keep your child safe from sepsis – Bath RUH backs national campaign

A public campaign to combat the danger of sepsis in children is being supported across the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust (RUH).

The national Public Health England campaign runs from Thursday December 15. It's aimed at the parents and carers of children under the age of five to:

• Raise their awareness of what sepsis is
• Help them to recognises the symptoms of sepsis
• Encourage them to see urgent medical help if they suspect their child has sepsis

Dr Lesley Jordan, Consultant Anaesthetist and Patient Safety lead at the RUH, said: "Early diagnosis is so important in successfully treating sepsis, so raising public awareness of the condition is of paramount importance.

"We have also done lots of work promoting awareness among GPs, including specific work by one of our junior doctors aiming to improve detection of sepsis in children in general practice."

The Bath RUH is a leader in sepsis education, pioneering a training scheme to teach more than 600 staff in 60 days about how to quickly identify and treat the potentially life-threatening condition. The training project team were chosen as finalists in this year's National Patient Safety Care Awards for their work.

Since July more than 800 RUH staff have been trained, following new national guidelines for the management of sepsis, and the RUH model has proved so successful that other NHS Trusts in the region have adopted its techniques to train three thousand more.

There are 150,000 cases of sepsis every year in the UK, including 25,000 children, resulting in 44,000 deaths – more than bowel, breast and prostate cancer combined.

For more information visit:

www.nhs.uk/sepsis

www.sepsistrust.org

Sepsis Campaign Poster

ENDS

Notes to editors

Sepsis is caused by the way the body responds to an infection which can occur anywhere, such as chest or urinary tract infections, problems in the abdomen like burst ulcers, or simple skin injuries like cuts and bites.

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that makes the body's immune system go into overdrive as it tries to fight the infection. This can reduce the blood supply to vital organs such as the brain, heart and kidneys. Without quick treatment, sepsis can lead to multiple organ failure and death.

The good news is that if diagnosed early then sepsis can be treated and outcomes greatly improved.

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