"Sepsis now accounts for three out of 100 ambulance journeys"

Tracy Nicholls, the Trust’s Head of Quality Governance, reports from the pre-hospital sepsis conference in Newcastle on Tuesday (13^th May).

“The main message from the conference is that paramedics are saving many lives of patients with sepsis. The latest figures show that three out of every 100 ambulance journeys are now for patients with sepsis and the UK Sepsis Trust’s estimate of 37,000 deaths a year looks set to be revised upwards, so it really is a very serious and dangerous condition.

“At EEAST, we have been recognising and treating patients with sepsis longer than any other ambulance trust and I was asked to open the conference by talking about the work we have done. I was thrilled to get some great feedback from other services and we should be very proud of what we are doing.

“I review all of the records of patients that we have treated for sepsis and we are seeing 50 to 90 cases a month. I now want us to push on and will be looking to publish the latest research and advice; one of the things we discussed at the conference is how important it is to give fluids to patients before they get to hospital. Organ failure is a very real and likely outcome from severe sepsis and we need to recognise the effects of tissue hypoperfusion and treat these patients before they reach the stage of septic shock.

“There are real efforts being made to get sepsis on the national agenda with the Department of Health targeting the World Health Organisation, NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Ron Daniels, the Chief Executive of the UK Sepsis Trust, is also meeting UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon soon.

“The World Sepsis Day is on 13^th September and there are plans to make this bigger and better this year, so look out for that. As always, please contact me if you want more information on sepsis or have any questions.”

Tracy Nicholls
Head of Quality Governance
tracy.nicholls@eastamb.nhs.uk

Published 16th May 2014