HEALTH chiefs in Gwent are expanding an innovative project designed to reduce deaths from sepsis through earlier identification and treatment.

Often referred to also as blood poisoning or septicaemia, sepsis occurs when the body's response to an infection ends up damaging its own tissues and organs.

It kills at least 37,000 people every year in UK, including around 1,850 in Wales.

The aim of the Aneurin Bevan Collaborative on Sepsis (ABC Sepsis), launched in January last year, is to eliminate avoidable deaths and harm from sepsis, with Aneurin Bevan University Health Board wanting to see a reduction in deaths due to early diagnosis and treatment.

Emergency departments and medical and emergency admissions units at the Royal Gwent and Nevill Hall Hospitals and at Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr, and seven wards across the three sites, have so far been involved with the project, with staff trained in recognising the signs of sepsis and in the use of a treatment 'bundle' or set of evidence-based interventions.

Seventeen months on, the project is being expanded to cover a whole hospital - Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr - as the ABC Sepsis team believes that this will make it easier to sustain early recognition of sepsis across all areas.

The aim is to try to identify sepsis early to maximise the chance of recovery, with staff who suspect that a patient may be developing sepsis using a 'trigger tool' or series of tests and observations, to confirm, before starting a treatment bundle within an hour of confirmation.

Early results indicate that the greatest impact is being seen at the hospital 'front door' with screening for sepsis in emergency departments where staff see patients with the condition on a daily basis.

Wards have been spotting just one or two cases a week, due in part to the identification of sepsis patients in emergency departments.

Having all relevant staff at Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr trained in recognition sepsis and the path to initiating treatment should be completed by the autumn.

The health board is also looking to link its work with sepsis programmes in primary care and the ambulance service.