‘Be aware of the signs of sepsis’ urges Alana’s heartbroken mum

A HEARTBROKEN mum whose daughter died after being scalded by a cup of tea is warning others to beware the signs of sepsis.

Alana Lynch, 16, fell gravely ill after a burn became infected just weeks before Christmas.

Her mum Kim described the circumstances that led to her daughter’s death, eight days after she was first admitted to hospital.

And Kim is warning others to look out for the symptoms as new figures revealed dozens of people are dying of sepsis in Tayside every year.

She said: “I would never have imagined that accidentally spilling a cup of tea on her legs would have resulted in the death of my beautiful, healthy 16-year-old daughter eight days later.

“I would encourage everyone to be aware of sepsis and more should be done to highlight the signs and symptoms and how important it is for sepsis to be detected and treated immediately before other families suffer a loss like we have and are left with nothing but questions.”

Alana was first admitted to Ninewells on December 6 after spilling a cup of boiling water over her legs while making a cup of tea.

Kim said there had been no indication of the deadly condition until five days after the accident.

Her wounds were dressed and she was sent home with paracetamol for the pain, with doctors telling her to get in touch if any other issues arose.

However, her condition deteriorated rapidly and she was taken into intensive care where, Kim said, about 10 to 15 doctors and nurses worked with her continuously to try to stabilise her.

Sepsis is the body’s over-reaction to an infection or injury which causes the immune system to attack its own organs and tissues. If it is not caught quickly, it can lead to organ failure, amputation and death within just 24 hours.

Last year 159 people died after developing the condition, including 26 people where sepsis was recorded as the primary cause of death.

Between2015and2019,690people died after developing the condition. And between January and October 2020, 177 patients were admitted to A&E with suspected sepsis and a further 583 inpatients who were treated for sepsis were discharged from hospital.

But the UK Sepsis Trust, says up to 320 people in Tayside will die from sepsis every single year.

Dr Ron Daniels, the chief executive and founder of UK Sepsis Trust, said: “It’s difficult to compare directly numbers year-on-year in coded data due to changes in clinical coding practice and in international definitions of sepsis.

“For a population the size of Tayside’s, we’d expect to see 8001,600 cases of sepsis each year, with 160 to 320 sadly dying.

“This appears to highlight the shortcomings of hospital administrative data in accurately recording the scale of the issue – but reinforces nonetheless that sepsis is a major cause of hospital admission and death.”

NHS Tayside said the signs of sepsis to look out for include slurred speech or confusion, extreme shivering, muscle pain or fever, passing no urine all day, severe breathlessness, having mottled or discoloured skin, and feeling like you are going to die.

In children, the most common symptoms are very fast breathing, having a seizure or a fit, having mottled, pale or slightly blue skin, having a rash that does not fade when you press it, feeling very lethargic or being difficult to wake, and being abnormally cold.

In under-fives they may also not be feeding, be vomiting repeatedly, or not passing urine for 12 hours.

A spokeswoman said: “NHS Tayside has undertaken a range of work over the past few years to improve early recognition and the signs of sepsis in patients when they are admitted to hospital.

“This includes workshops for junior doctors and clinical working groups. This improvement work has led to an increase in the number of cases being identified as sepsis as awareness grows.”