Ombudsman welcomes new NICE guidance on sepsis

Commenting on the draft NICE quality standard for health professionals on treating severe sepsis, Julie Mellor, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, said:

We are pleased NICE has produced this guidance following our recommendation to ensure faster diagnosis and treatment of sepsis, ultimately saving thousands of lives. We have seen too many cases of families who have lost their loved ones to this condition due to delays and missed warning signs.’

Background information:

Our 2013 clinical report, Time to Act, focused on our casework of patients with severe sepsis who did not receive the treatment they urgently needed. We recommended that NICE should prepare a quality standard for the management of severe sepsis.