Patients are dying because NHS is too slow to spot sepsis - report

Patients are dying of sepsis because doctors and nurses are often too slow to identify and treat it, NHS England's safety watchdog warns today.

- Denis Campbell

"The recognition of sepsis remains an urgent and persistent safety risk," despite multiple previous reports highlighting the large number of deaths it causes when diagnosed too late, it says.

Too often relatives are being ignored when they raise concerns about the condition of a loved one who later dies of sepsis, according to the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB).

It is urging NHS staff to learn from mistakes that the UK Sepsis Trust estimates play a key role in 10,000 avoidable deaths every year UK-wide.

Sepsis develops when an infection goes untreated and the body's response to the infection starts to target its own organs. Doctors refer to that process as "organ dysfunction".