Sepsis is our number one quality priority: Day 30 of our campaign

November 30, 2018

Message on behalf of Group Director of Nursing – Surgical Services

Post-operative sepsis is a  common complication after surgery mainly due to the vulnerability of the patient to infections such as UTIs, wound infection and pneumonia . The last decade has seen a rise in post -operative sepsis and  studies in the US have indicated that surgical patients account for 30 per cent of overall  patients with sepsis. Sepsis has been associated with increased post discharge mortality up to 1 year after hospital discharge. The risks are particularly high in patients admitted:

• Over the age of 60 year
• As an emergency
• With co- morbid disease
• Intra- abdominal infection

Although the incidence of sepsis is increasing, mortality is falling. This improvement work-stream implemented across the Trust which focuses on sepsis as our number one quality plan priority builds on national work to improve early recognition and  screening  and timely treatment.  Over the last few months we have taken on the challenge across the surgical group to ensure all our staff and teams are sepsis aware and engaging with this important “patient first” campaign.