With sepsis awareness a focus of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework, CPPE has launched a new gateway page on the topic

Sepsis is an uncomplicated condition and can be easily treated if caught early; however it causes around 52,000 deaths in the UK every year. Early recognition of the signs and symptoms of sepsis is the key to stopping preventable deaths.

Our Sepsis gateway page aims to support pharmacy professionals to become confident in recognising the early signs and symptoms of sepsis, when to escalate care and how to communicate concerns with other healthcare professionals effectively.

What’s included?

The page includes a short introductory video and a quiz that pharmacy professionals can use to identify any gaps in their knowledge. The gateway page also has core and foundation learning that comprises six case studies in the form of e-learning programmes. Each case study covers different pharmacy settings and patients presenting with various symptoms. The case studies give learners the opportunity to use clinical judgement to make recommendations for the best course of treatment for each patient.

The Sepsis page also signposts to numerous external tools, for example NICE guidance on recognition and treatment and the National Early Warning Score (NEWS2) online training resource. The gateway page also highlights other further reading such as the Surviving Sepsis Campaign bundle, the World Sepsis Day website and the UK Sepsis Trust’s clinical resources to supplement this learning.