Why is sepsis being missed?

The media is full of reports of tragic cases of patients whose sepsis has been missed by medical professionals, leading to devastating consequences. It begs the question: why is sepsis still being missed?

Unfortunately, GPs, paramedics and doctors can easily miss the signs of sepsis (also known as septicaemia or blood poisoning) and, if a patient isn’t diagnosed quickly, their body’s immune system goes into overdrive and attacks vital tissues and organs. It can cause shock, organ failure and death.

What is sepsis?

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that happens when your immune system overreacts to an infection and starts to damage your body’s own tissues and organs. Sepsis needs urgent hospital treatment. Patients should get antibiotics within an hour of arriving at hospital to prevent septic shock and may need to be admitted to intensive care.

Sepsis always starts with an infection, such as a chest infection or UTI, and symptoms can include mottled skin, a rash that does not fade when pressed, breathlessness, extreme shivering, fits, muscle pain, confusion and lethargy.

Around 250,000 people in the UK get sepsis each year and it caused 52,000 deaths last year, more than bowel, prostate and breast cancer combined. The UK Sepsis Trust estimates that 14,000 of those deaths were preventable.

Diagnosing sepsis – why is it missed?

Despite being one of the biggest killers in the UK, awareness of sepsis is staggeringly low, both amongst the public and medical professionals.

One of the main issues is that the symptoms of sepsis can be vague and vary from patient to patient. It is also difficult to distinguish from other conditions, like a chest infection or the flu.

Sepsis is simply not as easy to identify as cancer or a stroke, for example, and the lack of understanding about how it presents amongst medical professionals means it is often missed.

Sadly, another factor that often contributes to missed sepsis is our overstretched NHS. Medical staff are often overworked and under-resourced. As a result, they have less time with patients monitoring their condition, meaning they don’t spot and treat the signs fast enough. This is why it is also vital that the public gain a better understanding of sepsis so that family and friends can also spot the signs and alert doctors to their concerns –  and fight for treatment if needed.

Unfortunately, many patients and their families have reported having their concerns dismissed by their doctors, again unfamiliar with the symptoms and how it can present. Who can forget the tragic case of 13-year-old Chloe Longster, who died from sepsis whilst in hospital after being dismissed as a “dramatic teenager”?

Her parents claim that her cries for help and levels of pain were ignored by staff, who did not take her condition seriously.

Then there was the devastating case of 8-year-old Mia Glynn. She died from sepsis after being sent home from her GP twice despite vomiting and suffering from a sore throat and bad headaches for three days. She was given antibiotics and told the hospital was too busy to help. Hours later, her parents called 999 after her lips turned blue and she developed rashes. She later died in hospital from sepsis caused by a Strep A infection.

Always think sepsis

If you or a loved one has recently had an infection of any kind and becomes unwell again or their condition deteriorates, always think sepsis. Raise your concerns immediately as time is of the essence.

Visit the NHS website for the symptoms to look out for  Symptoms of sepsis – NHS

Sepsis and medical negligence

Time is of the essence in treating sepsis. If you experience any delays in diagnosing and treating sepsis, you may have a case for medical negligence. This could include misdiagnosis, delays in diagnosis (hospital wait, for example) and testing and medication errors.

If you have any concerns about the care you, or a loved one, has experienced, contact our team of experienced medical negligence experts for advice and support.

02920 391773

medicalnegilence@geldards.com

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