Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of early diagnosis of sepsis in children on patient outcomes.

The Government remains committed to improving the prevention, diagnosis, and management of sepsis, including in children. It is recognised that early diagnosis improves outcomes for patients with suspected sepsis.

The NHSE Paediatrics Early Warning System (PEWS) programme board was established to address difficulties with standardised early warning systems in children. It brings together a wide-ranging group of child health experts to look at how the system identifies and responds to deteriorating children in all settings and presentations.

The system to detect early deterioration in children in the in-patient setting is being implemented in 2023/24 across the country. It is named the System-wide Paediatric Observations Tracking (SPOT) as work is also underway to develop the recognition and response to deterioration across all settings, recognising that deterioration may occur in primary and community care, ambulance services, emergency departments and in hospitals.