15
Jul 2016
Patients with sepsis must be treated as emergency
According to the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence, patients with suspected sepsis must be given the same level of priority as heart attack patients, and the watchdog has urged health practitioners to consider the possibility of sepsis with any patient presenting with infections.
Sepsis is caused when the immune system overreacts to infection, leading to shock, severe organ failure and death if not identified and treated early enough. Early symptoms, which include rapid breathing and feeling generally unwell, can be vague and difficult to set apart from other conditions.
The condition is to blame for 44,000 deaths in the UK every year, but experts estimate that between 5,000 and 13,000 could be avoided.
The watchdog acknowledges sepsis as a complex medical problem, but they add that health professionals must make a first consideration of “could this be sepsis?” for any patient presenting with an infection, as they would consider the possibility of a heart attack for patients presenting with chest pain.
Professor Mark Baker from NICE said “The problem with those patients who died unnecessarily of sepsis is that staff did not think about it soon enough.”
He went on to say “This is complicated medicine. It requires a depth of thought and experience, and a way of examining patients which isn’t always there – particularly because of time pressures and partly because we have got used to implementing guidelines without thinking.”
The Royal College of General Practitioner’s Dr Maureen Baker, said “The diagnosis of sepsis is a huge worry for GPs, as initial symptoms can be similar to common viral illnesses, so we welcome any guidance or support to help us identify it as early as possible.”
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Posted by Karen Motley, Paralegal, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (karenmotley@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.
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