Misdiagnosis of Sepsis
There has been extensive press coverage in recent days regarding the difficulties encountered by medics when diagnosing cases of sepsis. This has seen the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, apologise for the shortfalls in NHS care relating to this serious condition (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-35410840).
So, what is sepsis? Sepsis is triggered by infection and causes the immune system to go into overdrive causing inflammation in the body’s tissues and therefore interfering with the flow of blood. Rapid diagnosis and treatment of the condition is required as failure to do so can lead to multiple organ failure and eventual death. It is estimated that over 100,000 people in the UK are admitted to hospital each year with sepsis, of which around 37,000 will die. An estimated 12,000 of these deaths are avoidable.
There are a number of symptoms to look out for (http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Blood-poisoning/Pages/Symptoms.aspx); however there are certain categories of people who are at increased risk of developing sepsis. These include:
Those with a weakened immune system.
Those who are already in hospital.
The elderly, the very young and pregnant women.
Those who have just had surgery or have been involved in an accident.
Experts assert that the trouble with diagnosing sepsis is that it can present in a number of different ways posing obvious difficulties to medics when trying to make an accurate diagnosis. The key is in recognising that a patient has the condition before the “red flag symptoms” develop (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-35409266).
Following the identification of the difficulties that are being encountered by healthcare professionals NICE have begun consultation earlier this month to produce guidelines which will assist in speeding up diagnosis and treatment of sepsis (https://www.nice.org.uk/news/press-and-media/nice-consults-on-guideline-to-speed-up-recognition-and-treatment-of-sepsis).
A drive to improve the identification and treatment of sepsis, resulting in the prevention of avoidable deaths would be welcomed by all I am sure. However, it is disappointing that this is still being contemplated rather than implemented when these difficulties were identified and reported on by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman nearly 3 years ago. (http://www.ombudsman.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/22666/FINAL_Sepsis_Report_web.pdf)