Posted 07 February 2017 - 10:11
Posted 07 February 2017 - 10:11
News
Trust sets up first dedicated A&E sepsis team
Leicester’s Hospitals’ new sepsis team will work in emergency department and combines healthcare professionals from intensive and critical care, emergency and theatre
The country’s first dedicated sepsis team has begun work at Leicester’s Hospitals emergency department (ED), which sees up to ten patients a day with the life-threatening condition.
Combining healthcare professionals from intensive and critical care, emergency and theatre, the new team aims to improve the response when patients present with or develop sepsis in ED.
Sepsis can occur following chest or other infections, abdominal problems such as burst ulcers, or simple skin injuries such as cuts and bites.
Sepsis symptoms
Leicester’s Hospitals sepsis lead consultant John Parker said: ‘With funding from the NHS Litigation Authority, our new dedicated sepsis team will be in our ED, where two thirds of our patients present with the symptoms of sepsis. On an average day there could be between five and ten people coming into ED with potentially life-threatening sepsis.’
Sepsis practitioner Clair Ripley, who worked in critical care for four years before joining the sepsis team, said: ‘I’m excited to drive forward excellence in the care of septic and deteriorating patients in our ED and across the rest of our organisation.’
Dr Parker said the decision to introduce the team followed the 2013 parliamentary and health service ombudsman’s report Time to Act. In 2014, healthcare staff formed a sepsis awareness group, led by Dr Parker and sepsis lead specialist nurse Sarah Odam. Recognition of sepsis at the trust is at 95-100%.
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