Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help ensure rapid diagnoses of sepsis in adults and children.

Screening, diagnosis and treatment of deterioration from infection, including from sepsis, is supported in all healthcare settings by use of the National Early Warning Score (NEWS2). In England, the NEWS2 tool has been deployed in 98.4% of acute trusts and 100% ambulance trusts.

Infection diagnostic pathway improvement is central to NHS England’s antimicrobial resistance programme. The Office of the Chief Scientific Officer is examining how to accelerate adoption of innovations in diagnostics and apply point-of-care testing to ensure optimal prescribing of antimicrobials in clinical settings, including for the detection of sepsis in adults and children.