The NHS will aim to prevent thousands of deaths from sepsis by 2035 as part of a series of measures to improve the treatment of the deadly condition.
Sepsis is a life-threatening response to an infection in the body, which can cause significant damage to tissues and organs, and is estimated to cause around 4,000 deaths a year in England.
The NHS blueprint includes measures to give wearable devices to people at risk of sepsis which could be on their mobile phones or worn as watches or bracelets.
The devices tested by the NHS will monitor people’s vital signs at home including their blood pressure and heart rate and will automatically flag that a person’s condition has deteriorated and they need to be tested for sepsis.
People who are on immunosuppressive treatments such as some cancer patients, older people or those with a catheter or a serious mental illness are at higher risk of sepsis.
NHS figures show there were more than 118,000 emergency admissions for sepsis in 2024/25.
People have a far better chance of survival if sepsis is detected quickly – for every hour of delayed treatment, the risk of death increases by up to 8%.
Some hospitals have begun giving wearable tech to inpatients at risk of sepsis to detect the deadly infection.
Cancer patients receiving CAR T cell therapy treatment at University College London Hospitals wear a device on their chest which measures heart rate, respiratory rate, and temperature – known risk factors for sepsis and cytokine release syndrome (CRS) as part of a clinical trial.
Once the device detects concerning symptoms, NHS clinicians are alerted to undertake a rapid review, which will enable them to quickly administer life-saving antibiotics to treat any infection.
Professor Ramani Moonesinghe, NHS England’s Deputy Medical Director, said: “Every year, sepsis causes of tens of thousands of deaths, and leaves thousands more with long-term disabilities, so it’s vital the NHS has an ambitious plan to reduce this harm over the next decade.
“Key to tackling sepsis is catching it early – the longer sepsis goes undetected the less chance a person has to survive or make a full recovery.
“That’s why the NHS will be trialling new wearable devices that will allow people’s vital signs to be monitored at home – so that if they deteriorate, they can get tested and treated faster.
“It is vital that everyone is aware of the signs of sepsis which can include difficulty breathing, a dramatic change in temperature, or not peeing for a time – so please do not hesitate calling 999 immediately if you or someone you know has these symptoms, and you can also find out more at nhs.uk/sepsis.”
The NHS blueprint includes work starting immediately to improve how care is delivered across the service, and an ambitious programme of research and innovation to develop new technologies which will improve how quickly and accurately clinicians can detect and treat sepsis.
Today’s modern service framework for sepsis is one of several new strategies the NHS is publishing to improve patient outcomes for major conditions.
The frameworks sit alongside a new Quality strategy also published today which aims to improve the safety, effectiveness, and experience of care across all NHS settings.
Minister for Patient Safety Preet Gill said: “Sepsis is a devastating and sometimes fatal condition. Behind every case is a patient and a family, and we have heard too many heartbreaking examples where signs of deterioration were not recognised quickly enough.
“Families who have turned unimaginable loss into action have helped drive a fundamental change in how we think about patient safety, ensuring patients and loved ones are listened to, concerns are acted on, and the NHS learns when things go wrong.
“This new framework represents an important step forward in improving how we identify and respond to sepsis, using innovation and technology to support clinicians and help save lives.
“Alongside the new Quality strategy published today, we are building an NHS that puts safety, learning and improvement at its heart embracing innovation while keeping patients at the centre of everything we do.”
Dr Ron Daniels BEM, Founder and Chief Medical Officer at the UK Sepsis Trust, said: “Today’s publication of the sepsis modern service framework marks significant progress for patient safety and takes an essential step towards saving more lives from sepsis and improving outcomes for survivors.
“At the UK Sepsis Trust, we welcome plans to increase delivery of sepsis recognition and severe infection management; the integration of rapid and point-of-care diagnostics; and wearable technologies; alongside strengthened support for survivors and enhanced, high-quality data.
Case study
Cancer patients receiving CAR T cell therapy treatment at University College London Hospitals wear a device on their chest which measures heart rate, respiratory rate, and temperature – known risk factors for sepsis and cytokine release syndrome (CRS) as part of a clinical trial.
“CRS and sepsis are both life-threatening clinical syndromes that trigger hyperinflammation and multi-organ dysfunction. While the syndromes have fundamentally different root causes, both sets of patients have overlapping clinical presentations, so testing the use of the device in CAR T patients has also been helpful to our understanding of how we can spot the signs of sepsis early,” said study principal investigator and University College London Hospitals (UCLH) critical care consultant David Brealey.
The PREDDICT clinical trial is still underway and UCLH has so far tested the wearable monitor in 29 patients with weakened immune systems and at increased risk of infection and other complications. “We hope to learn if the monitor can pick up problems sooner than routine checks on the ward and can help us identify patients likely to deteriorate so that we can intervene before the patient is symptomatic. The signs so far are that it works,” he said.
“A specialist team reviews the readings remotely day and night and contacts the on-call doctor if something looks wrong. I recently had a patient whose temperature rose while he slept and when it reached 38C, the team alerted ward staff, who checked him, took blood tests and started intravenous antibiotics. He recovered quickly without any further problems,” Dr Brealey said.
Symptoms of sepsis include: [this is based on nhs.uk] in babies and children:
- difficulty breathing or breathing very fast
- having a fit (seizure)
- a high or low temperature – feeling very hot or cold when you touch them
- blue, grey, pale or blotchy skin, lips or tongue – on black or brown skin this may be easier to see on the palms of the hands or soles of the feet
- a rash that does not fade when you press it – this type of rash is rare in sepsis, but it may be a symptom of meningitis
- being sleepier than normal or difficult to wake
- not peeing in the last 12 hours (for babies and children under 5 years), or not peeing all day (for children 5 years and over) – you can check a baby’s nappy to see if it’s dry
- babies and children under 5 years may also not be interested in feeding or they may keep being sick (vomiting)
In adults:
- confusion or slurred speech
- uncontrollable shivering
- muscle pain
- difficulty breathing
- blue, pale, grey or blotchy skin, lips, or tongue – on black or brown skin this may be easier to see on the palms of the hands or soles of the feet
- a high or low temperature – a high temperature is less common in older adults
- not peeing all day or peeing very little in the past 18 hours
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