By Dr Ron Daniels
Founder and Chief Medical Officer, UK Sepsis Trust | Vice-President, Global Sepsis Alliance | Humanimal Trust Taskforce Member
Our thought leadership blogs are a series of articles designed to provoke thinking and discussion around the concept and application of a One Medicine approach. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not represent those of Humanimal Trust or any other organisation mentioned.
September is recognised as Sepsis Awareness Month, with World Sepsis Day marked globally on September 13th. It’s a valuable opportunity for health professionals and communities around the world to highlight the importance of early recognition and treatment of sepsis. But to truly make a difference, we must take action on sepsis all year round – not just in September.
Sepsis claims over 48,000 lives in the UK annually – five people every hour. It’s a life-threatening condition that arises when the body’s response to infection injures its own tissues and organs, with the immune system going into overdrive. It can lead to shock, multiple organ failure, and even death if not recognised and treated promptly. Around half of cases are caused by pneumonia, a fifth by urinary tract infections, and a tenth by skin and soft tissue infections. Not every infection leads to sepsis, but almost any infection can trigger it, which makes infection prevention one of the most effective tools we have.
Improving outcomes for those affected by sepsis
At the UK Sepsis Trust, our ambition is to end preventable deaths from sepsis and improve outcomes for those affected. That ambition starts with all of us, and health professionals sit right at the centre. The Sepsis MSF In July this year, NHS England (NHSE) and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) published the Modern Service Framework (MSF) for Sepsis, setting out a ten-year vision for how sepsis care should evolve and improve by 2035. The MSF aims to reduce deaths, life-threatening complications and the long-term impact of sepsis for all people by at least 25% over the next decade through improvements in prevention, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, research, and innovation. Its ambition is to ensure every patient who develops sepsis receives the best care the NHS can offer, reliably, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, regardless of where they access services.
The MSF’s publication comes as sepsis continues to place considerable pressure on both the NHS and wider economy. In 2024/25, sepsis was responsible for more than 154,000 emergency hospital admissions in England (based only on coded data, so almost certainly an underestimate), while new research from the York Health Economics Consortium (YHEC), commissioned by the UK Sepsis Trust, estimates that the condition costs the UK economy £23 billion annually.
Looking to the future
The publication of the Sepsis MSF marks a significant moment for patient safety. For too long, progress in sepsis care has been held back by fragmented and inconsistent practice. This framework sets out to change that, and we welcome plans for improved diagnostics, treatment and care. It’s important to remember that this is a 10-year plan, and we’re not expecting immediate delivery of all its proposals. Nonetheless, it’s hugely encouraging to see the framework’s suggestion that by 2035, we will have the best and most resilient infrastructure for recognising and managing sepsis, for all people and in all settings, in the world.
What can you do?
Sepsis isn’t always easy to spot, and it isn’t always obvious that a patient has an infection at all. Particular vigilance is needed with older adults, babies and young children, pregnant or recently pregnant women, people with weakened immune systems or significant underlying conditions, and people with severe mental health conditions, dementia or learning disabilities. Because sepsis is time-critical, swift escalation matters as much as recognition. Health professionals should follow local sepsis policies and act within their scope of practice. Where Red Flag Sepsis is identified, there’s a one-hour window to get antibiotics started, which makes appropriate antimicrobial stewardship – taking microbiological samples where possible, without delaying treatment – essential both for the patient in front of you and for the wider fight against antimicrobial resistance.
If you would like to learn more, the UK Sepsis Trust offers a range of clinical tools and resources for general practice and community services, along with an online sepsis assessment tool to support safety-netting. Find out more here. If you’ve recently experienced sepsis or have been bereaved by sepsis, the UK Sepsis Trust’s Support Nurses are here to help. Just call our nurse-led helpline on 0808 800 0029 or visit our website for more information
Author bio
Dr Ron Daniels is an NHS Consultant in Intensive Care, based at University Hospitals Birmingham, U.K. He’s also Executive Director of the UK Sepsis Trust and Vice-President of the Global Sepsis Alliance. In 2016 he was awarded the British Empire Medal for services to patients. Ron’s expertise lies in translational medicine and leadership. . Ron is also a member of the Humanimal Trust Taskforce.
You can hear more from Dr Ron Daniels in his talk at our One Medicine Symposium.
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