Dozens of A&E deaths probed after doctors’ sepsis blunders END THE SEPSIS SCANDAL

DOZENS of deaths at a major A&E unit are being investigated after serious concerns were raised over the way doctors treat sepsis.

In the latest scandal to hit the NHS, the Care Quality Commission said it was ‘extremely concerned’ about the emergency department at Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley.

Independent experts have been called in to review every single death at the unit in a six-month period – with roughly 50 deaths thought to be involved.

A CQC inspection report – which gave the unit an ‘inadequate’ rating – raised particular concerns about the treatment of patients with sepsis, who were left for hours without testing or treatment.

Inspectors said doctors had become ‘frustrated’ at a new NHS focus on sepsis and were failing to take the problem seriously as a result. The failure to embrace the lifesaving drive – which was partially triggered by a Daily Mail campaign on the issue – was last night described as ‘unacceptable’ by health ministers.

The CQC ordered ‘enforcement action’ to ensure improvements. Even staff members said they would not send their relatives to the hospital for fear they would ‘deteriorate or die’, the report said.

Failings were widespread – with inspectors describing a patient left bleeding heavily in a waiting area and a stroke patient who was left for an hour before being seen.

But the CQC was particularly worried about doctors’ failings on sepsis. Health minister Caroline Dinenage said last night: ‘Sepsis is a heart-breaking condition and patients rightly expect every part of the NHS to be on the highest possible alert to recognise it.

‘There has been a huge effort by NHS staff in recent years to increase how many cases of sepsis are spotted early, treated and recorded – and a greater awareness among the public of the symptoms of sepsis thanks to campaigns such as the Mail’s.

‘The Dudley Group Foundation Trust must ensure it matches these high standards – anything less is frankly unacceptable.’

Sepsis has been a key priority for the NHS for nearly three years, with doctors required to check all suspected cases immediately and rapidly give patients antibiotics.

Ministers hope this focus on sepsis will save some of the 44,000 lives lost to the condition in Britain every year. But the CQC report suggests doctors in Dudley resent this new focus.

Sepsis is the leading cause of avoidable death in the UK, affecting an estimated 260,000 people a year. It develops when an infection such as blood poisoning sparks a violent immune response in which the body attacks its own organs.

But the condition is notoriously difficult to diagnose until it has spread throughout the body and every 30-minute delay in treating a patient with sepsis increases the risk of death by 7 per cent.

The CQC first raised concerns about Russells Hall during an inspection last December, when inspectors were forced to intervene to help a patient with suspected sepsis after staff failed to treat them properly.

In June they found patients displaying ‘red flag’ symptoms for sepsis on arrival were still not screened or tested. When testing eventually took place, clear signs of the condition were ignored.

When nurses tried to challenge doctors, their concerns about sepsis were dismissed and they were told there was no need to worry.

The CQC said: ‘The assessment, screening and treatment for sepsis was delayed in all cases that we looked at during the inspection.

‘There was a disconnect between what leaders thought was happening in the department and what was happening in practice.

‘Staff lacked a basic knowledge of what sepsis was, what the signs were and had failed to recognise clear cases.’

Hospital trust chief executive Diane Wake said: ‘We see less than one death a day in our emergency department and more than 60 per cent of those die from cardiac arrest. We have the lowest mortality rate in the region.’