HOSPITAL chiefs have welcomed a ‘significant improvement’ in the treatment of potentially deadly sepsis.

Figures revealed in a BBC Panorama programme had shown hospitals in East Lancashire were among the highest for levels of sepsis in the country.

The illness sees the body’s response to infection injure its own tissues and organs and it can lead to multiple organ failure and even death.

But new figures show improvements in the treatment and assessment of sepsis in patients at East Lancashire Hospitals Trust.

New data from NHS England shows assessment for sepsis in the trust’s emergency department has increased from 52 to 88 per cent since April 2015,

Timely treatment for sepsis has also risen from 49 to 76 per cent in the same period.

There is also an improvement in patients being treated for neutropenic sepsis, a potential complication of anti-cancer therapy which requires rapid, specialist treatment.

In the first three months of 2018, 100 per cent of patients admitted to the trust’s ambulatory care and acute medical units (A and B) were examined and, where appropriate, given medication for neutropenic sepsis within one hour.

Matron Caroline Rogers, from the primrose chemotherapy unit at Burnley General Teaching Hospital, said she was ‘delighted’ that the trust had achieved such ‘fantastic’ results which represent a ‘significant improvement over a number of years’.

She said: “For patients who are currently or recently received treatment for cancer, it is vital that infections are rapidly assessed and treated urgently with antibiotics.”

“These results demonstrate not only the fantastic work of the acute oncology team, but also are also a great example of collaborative working between the acute oncology team and our ‘front door’ services, namely, ambulatory care, the acute medical units and the emergency department.”

Across all the trust’s wards, 88 per cent of cancer patients requiring treatment for neutropenic sepsis received it in one hour or less during January, February and March.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recently updated its guidance for the treatment of sepsis.

The trust said its staff have ‘worked hard’ in recent years to ‘provide more timely treatment.’

NHS England medical director for clinical effectiveness Celia Ingham-Clark thanked staff at the trust.

She said: “I would like to congratulate you and your colleagues for all the hard work and dedication you have shown, which has enabled these improvements in sepsis recognition and treatment to take place.”

Russ McLean, East Lancashire’s patients’ champion, said improvements in sepsis treatment was ‘brilliant news’ for patients.

He said: “On the back of some of the stories in the press and especially on the Panorama programme, this is absolutely brilliant news for patients.

“I’ll be writing to the chief executive of the trust Kevin McGee to congratulate him.”

Work to tackle sepsis has also seen the trust set up its own task force and it has seen patients admitted to hospital screened for the illness.