Health boards say sepsis campaign vital to save lives
... But SNP rejected chance to raise awareness
NHS bosses said lives would be saved if the Scottish Government rolled out a campaign to raise awareness of sepsis – but action to address the scandal was rejected.
Six health boards backed calls for a public education drive focusing on the condition – which kills 4,000 Scots a year – saying improved knowledge about symptoms would slash the number of people falling seriously ill.
They said ‘we cannot be complacent’ about sepsis, which affects 20,000 people north of the Border each year, and described it is a ‘major cause of preventable death’. But the Scottish Government dismissed the recommendation for a nationwide awareness campaign made by the Scottish parliament’s public petitions committee.
In response, the Scottish Daily Mail yesterday launched our own crusade against this ‘silent killer’, demanding Health Secretary Shona Robison backtrack on this decision.
Last night, Jim Robertson – who filed a petition to the committee after losing his wife Liz, 61, to sepsis last year – said: ‘It seems everyone supports my petition apart from the Scottish Government.’
In its submission, NHS Highland warned: ‘We cannot be complacent about sepsis, and are constantly striving to develop systems which give the best chance of avoiding the tragedies that occur when sepsis is unrecognised.
‘We welcome any additional focus on sepsis, as we recognise that it remains a major cause of preventable death in Scotland.’
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde stated: ‘Further provision of public information may enable patients to seek medical care at an earlier stage.’
NHS Tayside said it ‘supports any measures that seek to raise awareness of sepsis, both within the clinical community and broader public of Scotland’, while a letter from NHS Lanarkshire stated it would ‘fully support a wider public awareness campaign for sepsis’.
NHS Borders wrote it ‘is supportive of the action called for within the public petition... any such awareness-raising can only be helpful’.
NHS Orkney was also ‘supportive of the action called for within the public petition’.
But in contradiction to the health boards’ opinions, the Scottish Government insisted last month that a public awareness campaign was not ‘necessary at this time’.
Mr Robertson, 69, from Glasgow, first heard of sepsis from his wife’s post-mortem report.
He said: ‘The term sepsis was never mentioned to me during discussions I had with the clinicians treating Liz. I was always told Liz had a chest infection.
‘I will reply to the Government about their response to my petition and I will carry on campaigning. I want a public awareness campaign on sepsis to be my personal legacy to Liz.’