Text warning system transforms sepsis fight

A text message warning system that alerts doctors to cases of sepsis is helping transform the fight against the deadly disease.

Cambridge University Hospitals Trust introduced the system, which constantly analyses patients’ observations, in the A&E unit of its Addenbrookes hospital in August 2016.

In July 2015, 11 per cent of A&E patients with possible sepsis were given antibiotics within an hour of arriving. This had increased to 76 per cent by August 2016. Since then the figure has ranged from 72 to 86 per cent, according to the Daily Mail.