The Nhs And Sepsis

[anthro-nerd]

My sister had sepsis two years ago... she was really ill, 'floppy', a temperature, just not right at all. She went to a walk in clinic who identified it as sepsis straight away and put her in an ambulance to A&E. The hospital then sent her home and said she just had flu-like symptoms and needed to rest. The next day she was worse, so I rang 111, then made an appointment at the out of hours doctor surgery, who then sent us back to A&E. We were then taken seriously, and she was admitted and spend 7 days in hospital, where initially they struggled to stabilise her, and her liver was struggling. It was terrifying.

Why was it dismissed, by that first A&E doctor and why does it continue to be missed? I have a huge respect for the NHS, but unfortunately it only takes 1 doctor to miss something and with sepsis that can mean life or death.

Does anyone else have a story like this about sepsis, it's rightfully all over the media at the moment - it's the second biggest killer in England!

[Sqad]

Everybody has had an infection some time in their lives....bronchitis, ear infections, influenza etc etc and Sepsis is relatively uncommon.
How do you sort the wheat from the chaff, how do you spot the deadly condition of SEPSIS...difficult....very very difficult. There is no one sign or symptom that gives the diagnosis and hence it is missed.
All doctors have misdiagnosed potentially fatal conditions and will continue to do so.
The main feature....does the patient look ill. That is the crucial feature....the doctor using his senses and not relaying on modern technology to make a diagnosis.
The other factor is that SEPSIS come on quickly, so a doctor can see a patient and reassure, but within 24 hours or less the diagnosis of a life threatening condition can become apparent.

[Quoi]

my son had a very close call with sepsis when he was 17 - the hospital didnt initially know what it was but luckily kept him for observation rather than send him home. When he was finally diagnosed he was transferred to the john radclife for specialised treatment. Could so easily have been different.

[murraymints]

yup.. it crept up on my FIL fortunately he was in hospital at the time and went onto IV antib which cleared it.. acquired in hospital !

[rowanwitch]

Big campaign at the moment publicising the signs and symptoms. With a new scoring system and assessment tools.

[anthro-nerd]

Yeah its so great they're making a check box system to try and catch it. Sqad, I assume it must be difficult to spot... very scary stuff.

If sepsis is relatively uncommon why is the the second biggest killer in England?

[Sqad]

anthro....I didn't know it was.

cancer
heart disease
stroke
lung disease
liver disease

These are the big killers.

[rowanwitch]

I think it is because it is treatable there is so much concern. The high death score is within the preventable deaths list rather than diseases generally.

[pastafreak]

I've only just seen this. My elderly brother has been in hospital...in the US...with sepsis for over 2 months. It was around the time he was first diagnosed that I noticed a lot of coverage in the media here. I suspect it is difficult to diagnose particularly in the young. That being said, the 60y old father of an acquaintance developed it around the same time and was diagnosed immediately. Maybe because of this recent publicity?

[Peter Pedant]

how did they miss it ?

difficult diagnosis which blows up to full sepsis quickly
full marks to the doctor who diagnosed it first