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Minister for Health publishes UCC led report on patient and healthcare staff experiences of Sepsis, Infection and Antimicrobial Resistance
The Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD has today published the report of the 'Patient & Healthcare Staff Stories Project: Experiences of Sepsis, Infection & Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)'.
The report captures the views and experiences of people, families and healthcare staff in Ireland who have experienced serious infections, AMR or sepsis.
Commissioned by the Department of Health and carried out by a team of researchers from the School of Pharmacy and School of Public Health at University College Cork (UCC), the report highlights the experiences of patients and will help to inform the development of future policy in this area.
AMR causes medicines such as antibiotics to become less effective, or even useless, in the treatment of infection. This increases the likelihood of disease spread or severe illness. Sepsis is a life-threatening complication of infection and contributes significantly to hospital admissions and mortality rates globally.
AMR is recognised as one of the top three priority health threats by the European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA), and one of the top 10 global public health threats by the World Health Organisation (WHO). To tackle this, Ireland has adopted a holistic One Health approach working across human health, animal health, and the environment sectors, using our national action plan as a roadmap.
Lead researcher Dr Aoife Fleming, School of Pharmacy at UCC, said: "Our report highlights that Sepsis, Infection and AMR are more than clinical conditions, they are societal challenges that require coordinated efforts, collaboration and most importantly patient engagement and participation to guide the next steps of translating evidence and findings into action. We must continue to raise public awareness and understanding of sepsis, AMR and take the time to explain to patients and family so that they understand and can share in the decision making in these most challenging of situations."
Minister Carroll MacNeill said: "I would like to sincerely thank the patients and healthcare staff who shared their stories, and also their family, friends and patient advocacy groups who supported them along the way. Their stories give a voice to the statistics, underlining the real-life impact of sepsis and AMR. By listening, we can learn and improve. Last week we published updated national clinical guidelines for sepsis management in adults, and the HSE is due to finalise its first five-year Action Sepsis Strategy by the end of the year."