The HSSIB (Health Services Investigations Board) published a report on the 26th June 2025. I always discuss Sepsis when delivering training as it’s such an important topic. We have in the region of 245,000 cases a year in the UK and around 48,000 deaths. I really think this is tragic that we are still losing so many people. Where I feel we can really make a difference is in the early suspicion and therefore recognition. There were a few things highlighted in the report and I’d like to pick out a few that struck a chord with me.
New Confusion or altered confusion
I regularly teach for a Mental Health Trust and therefore the staff are caring for patients with confusion and/or an altered mental state. We always discuss the importance of recognising any changes. I try and empower the staff that if they notice a change that they should act on it. Sometimes this is recognised by family or friends and this brings me to my second point.
Family not listened to
This finding really distressed me as it’s been highlighted many times that family concerns should be taken seriously. Following the death of Martha Mills, a 13 year old who died from Sepsis, the NHS has been introducing Martha’s law because Martha’s and her mum’s requests for help weren’t acted on. I actually think we all need someone with us to be our advocate if we are in hospital. I’m not taking anything away from the staff but we all know the pressures we work under. Also when you feel really unwell dealing with the processes of the NHS can be difficult.
You don’t need a diagnosis of an infection
The report also found that some staff were reluctant to decide the patient was suffering from Sepsis because they didn’t have a confirmed infection. This led to a delay in escalation. I agree that Sepsis can look like other conditions, bleeding for example, but the infection doesn’t need to be confirmed. I encourage my learners to think of a very simple sum:-
unwell + possible infection = Sepsis (until it isn’t)
To be fair this is what the Sepsis Trust Clinical Tools encourage us to focus on and this what I encourage my learners to consider. We just need to ask ‘could it be sepsis?’ If we don’t ask the question we won’t think to use the tools. Then we won’t think to do a screening and we won’t escalate the person’s care.
I hope you’ve found my comments useful. If you want to get in touch you can do that via my website or you can comment at the bottom. Thank you for reading.
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