AN OPEN evening to raise awareness of sepsis will take place next month.

County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust is hosting a Sepsis Awareness Evening on Wednesday, March, 25, in Durham.

Open to everyone, the event aims to raise awareness of sepsis – a serious complication of infections which, without quick treatment, can lead to death. Each year, sepsis kills more than 46,000 people in the UK and six million people worldwide.

Dr Joanne Malkin, consultant microbiologist, said: “The symptoms of sepsis include a high fever, inability to keep fluids down, rapid heartbeat, rapid, shallow breathing; lethargy and confusion – though not everyone experiences all of these and a number of them are also signs of other illnesses, such as flu, so sepsis isn’t always easy to spot. We’re hosting this event so our expert speakers can help share information on what sepsis is and the signs and symptoms for people to look out for.

“When people come to our A&E departments with suspected sepsis, our teams act very quickly, assessing their symptoms and giving antibiotics within an hour of arrival. We hope that our awareness evening will mean that more people who start developing sepsis at home will attend hospital sooner, maximising opportunities for effective treatment. Once sepsis takes hold, it can affect multiple organs and becomes much more difficult to treat.”

The event, from 6pm to 8.30pm at Prospect House, Ackley Heads, DH1 5AN, close to University Hospital of North Durham, is free. Register online via Eventbrite, or email cdda-tr.microcons@nhs.net.