PE1621 is a new petition by James Robertson, calling for awareness of the early signs of sepsis to be increased among Scottish health professionals and the public. The petition was not open for signatures. Mr Robertson was invited to provide oral evidence to the committee today, but is unable to attend. Members have a copy of the petition and the briefing note.
It is worth highlighting that the petition arises from the petitioner’s personal experiences. In the petition, Mr Robertson explains that he is concerned that NHS Scotland is not doing as much to raise awareness of sepsis as is being done by the NHS in England. To address that, the petition suggests the following three steps: establishment of a working group to increase awareness of early identification among clinicians and the public, diagnosis and management of sepsis; work with relevant charities to develop and distribute guidance on sepsis in pre-hospital and hospital settings; and encouragement of the Scottish intercollegiate guidelines network to review its guidance on sepsis, giving consideration to recent National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.
Do members have any comments or suggestions? The petition highlights an important issue.
We always seem to do it, but we should write to the Scottish Government to ask for its position on the petition. I am interested in what it thinks the differences are between the protocols south of the border and what is happening up here. It is suggested that the protocols south of the border are better than ours.
We will write to the Scottish Government and perhaps the health boards to see whether there are differences in different parts of Scotland. It is also suggested that we contact Healthcare Improvement Scotland and the UK Sepsis Trust. I am not aware of other organisations in this area, but the UK Sepsis Trust might have an overview of the different bits of the United Kingdom and what is being done differently.
I agree with all of that. This is an incredibly important subject and we need to widen the net and get as many views and as much information as possible. It is crucial that awareness be expanded as widely as possible.
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