This World Sepsis Day, patients, their families and staff at Walsall Manor Hospital will be able to find out more about the deadly condition and learn how to spot potential warning symptoms.

Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust’s Sepsis and Outreach Response Team (SORT) works hard to raise awareness throughout the hospital and community highlighting the importance of detection and early intervention. The team supported Strictly Come Dancing star Amy Dowden last year when she contracted sepsis and came to the Manor Hospital.

Staff take part in the World Sepsis Day focus which is today – Friday 13 September – and supported by the UK Sepsis Trust.

Sepsis affects 245,000 people every year in the UK alone, and 48,000 people die of sepsis-related illnesses. Of those that develop sepsis and survive, around 40% face potentially life-changing challenges with their physical and/or mental health.

It is also a bigger cause of deaths in the UK than heart attacks.

Sepsis happens when the body’s immune system overreacts to an infection and starts to damage internal organs. It can affect anyone, but some people are more likely to get an infection that could lead to sepsis, including babies, immunocompromised patients, people over 75 or who those have recently had surgery or a serious illness, and women who have just given birth.

Laura Hu, Senior Sister in SORT, said: “We continue to support our staff, managing patients with sepsis and escalating to our Intensive Care Unit ICU if required as well as ensuring sepsis checklists are completed and closed promptly.

“As a Trust, Walsall Healthcare is 86.1 per cent effective in giving antibiotics within an hour of the patient being identified as either potentially or definitely having sepsis, which is fantastic, but we strive to get that figure higher. As well as educating staff and working alongside them across our wards to ensure patients are being treated quickly and efficiently, we also put a lot of effort into making the public more aware of the condition. Symptoms can be vague and can be assumed to be flu. We have a Sepsis Six care bundle, or checklist, which has been shown to reduce the relative risk of death by 46.6 per cent when delivered to patients with severe sepsis within one hour.

“We encourage patients, visitors and staff to stop by our stand near Costa Coffee in the up to 2pm today and talk to us about sepsis as well as ask any questions they may have.”

SORT is made up of Matron Amy Blakemore, Senior Sisters Laura Hu, Rebecca Clay, Helen Halsall and Xana Marriott and supported by Sisters Lucy Mason, Lilly Dhapi, Louise King and Donna Botfield.