Westminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
Each debate is chaired by an MP from the Panel of Chairs, rather than the Speaker or Deputy Speaker. A Government Minister will give the final speech, and no votes may be called on the debate topic.
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Andrew Gwynne)
It is good to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Christopher. I start by welcoming new Members to this House. I know it has been three months since the general election, but this is my first opportunity as a Health Minister to welcome those who have a clear interest in public health and prevention matters. I assure Members of the House that I will work with all Members to try to get those better outcomes. Working across party is how I always operated in opposition, and I seek to do the same in government. I also want to welcome the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham (Dr Johnson), to her post. We very briefly went head to head in the past when I shadowed her—I hope that she gets to shadow me for longer.
I congratulate the hon. Member for Ashfield (Lee Anderson) on securing this important debate. He is a chap who always wears his heart on his sleeve. Whether we agree with him or not, he is always forthright and passionate about the causes that he cares for. This is a cause for which there is commonality across the House, and I want to thank him sincerely for putting forward such an eloquent case to me, as the new Public Health and Prevention Minister, and for setting out the story of his constituent, Abbi. I am going to make her blush, and we have all said it, but she has a wonderful smile—she really has. I hope she will still be smiling at the end of the debate because I want to ensure that the Government do more on raising awareness of sepsis.
I have always taken the view that Members vastly enrich our debates with their own experiences and those of their constituents, and we heard it again in contributions over the course of the debate. I want to start by saying as the Minister that my deepest condolences go to the families and friends of everyone lost to sepsis, including those watching the debate elsewhere. Sepsis is a devastating condition. Last month was Sepsis Awareness Month. I want to pay tribute to the outstanding sepsis charities, including UK Sepsis Trust and Sepsis Research FEAT. They do so much to raise awareness, support families and fund research.
The shadow Minister mentioned Martha’s rule, and I want to touch on that. Throughout the history of the NHS, families have been at the heart of driving change and, indeed, holding our health service to account. Members may have read, as I did, Merope Mills’ article in the Guardian describing her daughter’s last few days in hospital. It was a difficult read—there is no getting away from that—and I cannot even begin to imagine how difficult that article was to write. At just 13 years old, Martha was a bright, bubbly young girl and, in her mum’s words, a “feminist in the making.” She should not have died. Her parents should have been listened to, they should have been kept in the loop, and they should have been treated with the respect they deserved. Talking to families should never be some tick-box exercise. On the contrary, nobody knows their child better than a mum and dad, as we know. Families have a critical part to play in their own care, and we need to ensure that their concerns are heard and acted on.
Thanks to Martha’s parents and other campaigners, NHS England will roll out Martha’s rule across 143 hospital sites by March next year. That initiative will enable patients and their families to seek a second opinion or a rapid review from someone outside their care team if they are concerned that their condition is deteriorating.
On sepsis training, NHS England has developed specific sepsis training resources to improve sepsis recognition for clinical and non-clinical staff in the NHS. Guidelines for recognition, diagnosis and early management of suspected sepsis were updated earlier this year. It is critical that those updates are constantly implemented by frontline clinical staff to drive real improvements on the ground. It is also important that we recognise the life-altering complications of sepsis, such as multiple limb amputations, as again was so eloquently set out by the hon. Member for Ashfield. Again, I want to thank Abbi for being here today—there is nothing more powerful than her presence in the Gallery.
Physical rehabilitation is an important part of the recovery process. It can be a long, difficult and frustrating process, so it is important that the NHS continues to place patients at the heart of rehabilitation services and focuses on meeting individual goals and improving their quality of life.
On public awareness, as has already been said by numerous Members, we all remember that incredible moment when Lord Mackinlay, who had a life-threatening battle with sepsis, walked into the House of Commons Chamber just before the general election was called. His moving testimony shone a spotlight on the physical and emotional pain of sepsis survivors and their families. I welcome his advocacy in that area. In the NHS, our focus must be on improving the early recognition and clinical treatment of sepsis. We should thank everyone who has campaigned on that.
Sepsis is a clinically complex condition. The signs and symptoms vary hugely, particularly in the early stages. Moreover, sepsis is not a single disease; it does not have a single diagnostic test. The NHS has got better at recognising and treating sepsis by the introduction of the national early warning score, a screening and decision support tool now used by 100% of ambulance trusts, and 99% of acute trusts, in England. Last year, NHS England ran a financial incentive scheme to encourage the use of the national early warning score to improve responses to unwell and deteriorating patients, and several trusts have rolled out the national paediatric early warning score to ensure the recognition of deterioration in children. We need to maintain that momentum, continuing to improve care and reduce preventable deaths from sepsis—because they are preventable, and we should do all we can to prevent them.
I want to see patients and families empowered to seek timely medical help. The job of the healthcare system is to ensure that frontline staff can recognise sick patients and respond quickly to provide lifesaving treatment. To support that, in the last five years, the National Institute for Health and Care Research has invested over £19.7 million of funding in 20 research projects on sepsis diagnosis, management and treatment, and it welcomes applications for research on sepsis.
I want to touch briefly on antimicrobial resistance. Our treatment of sepsis relies on effective antibiotics. That is why the Government are focused on tackling antimicrobial resistance by implementing the UK’s five-year national action plan.
On improving awareness, I spend almost every day thinking about prevention—it is in the title of my job—and preventing infection is the best way to avoid sepsis. I agree with the hon. Member for Ashfield, and indeed other Members, that we should be doing all we can to better educate and inform. It is heartwarming that in the latest statistics we have, awareness of sepsis is not only increasing, it is at relatively high levels. But we should never rest on our laurels. We have to keep reminding people of sepsis. That is why I will work with the hon. Member for Ashfield and others to ensure that we get the support we need.
I will work on a four-nation basis with colleagues across the devolved Administrations. One of my first jobs was to talk to Mike Nesbitt, the Health Minister in Northern Ireland, and the Welsh and Scottish Health Ministers, about health issues to which we have a common approach. Sepsis has to be one of those.
Finally, I assure the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham, that the comms budgets will not be cut for public health measures.