Sepsis toolkit for GPs – a reminder

The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), in partnership with Health Education England and NHS England, recently launched a new sepsis toolkit to support GPs and healthcare professionals to identify and manage the condition in patients.

It is estimated that there are over 100,000 cases of sepsis, a condition of blood poisoning that in serious cases can lead to death if not treated in time, in England a year.

The College’s toolkit has been designed to help GPs and other healthcare professionals in primary care tackle this challenge with a series of educational materials, up-to-date guidance and training resources.

The toolkit also provides valuable information for patients, carers and parents, including an adult and child sepsis ‘symptom checker’, to illustrate the signs and symptoms they should look out for.

Today’s launch coincides with World Sepsis Day and the recent announcement of sepsis as a clinical spotlight project for the RCGP for 2016/2017.

RCGP’s Clinical Lead for sepsis Dr Simon Stockley, who developed the toolkit, comments “Sepsis is responsible for 37,000 deaths a year in England alone. Recognising sepsis at an early stage among the huge number of ordinary infections can be a challenge even to experienced clinicians.

“The RCGP’s Sepsis toolkit is designed to help GPs better identify possible sepsis, and provide education resources for healthcare professionals and patients alike.”

You can access the College’s sepsis toolkit here.