13 September 2019
To mark World Sepsis Day, The Trust that runs Shropshire’s two acute hospitals has taken delivery of 60 new blood culture pods to dramatically reduce the time it takes for samples to be transported to its labs.
The new plastic pods are safer than the glass pods they replace, and initial calculations suggest as much as one hour could be saved in the time it takes for a sample to reach the Pathology labs using air tube systems at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust (SaTH) which runs the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) and The Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford. The new pods will be launched at the RSH before being rolled out at PRH.
Karen Gibson, Senior Specialist Biomedical Scientist at SaTH, said: “Our target is to load all samples within one hour. The arrival of the pods – which have been kindly funded by SaTH Charity – will allow us to hit our target, but most importantly they will be responsible for saving lives.”
Angela Windsor, Sepsis Nurse Practitioner at SaTH, said: “Mortality increases by 10% for every hour’s delay in administering antibiotics in cases of Sepsis, and it is also important to ensure the patient is given the correct antibiotics.
“We have made tremendous strides in improving our performance and the delivery of these Pods should allow us to meet our ambitious target and save more lives.”
As well as the launch of the new plastic pods to mark World Sepsis Day, SaTH has launched ‘Sepsis Stars’, a monthly award for staff who demonstrate excellence when it comes to all things Sepsis.
Angela Windsor has also written a blog about Sepsis and what her role at the Trust entails. You can read her blog here
Sepsis is the immune system’s overreaction to an infection or injury. The condition kills over 42,000 people each year in the UK, more than breast, lung and bowel cancer combined.