Sepsis Awareness, Level 1

What it covers

What sepsis is in plain words, why an ordinary looking illness turns dangerous, and who it reaches first. The words a caller or a carer uses that mean a patient is seen today rather than next week. The high risk signs NICE names in adults, in children and in babies, what a clinician does with them, and the safety netting to give anyone who goes home.

Who it is for

Everyone in a GP practice. Reception, care navigators and administrators take the calls; GPs, nurses, healthcare assistants, pharmacists and paramedics do the assessment.

By the end you will be able to

• Say what sepsis is, and why an ordinary illness can turn dangerous.
• Name the people NICE puts at higher risk, including in pregnancy.
• Act on the words a caller uses, without trying to diagnose.
• Recognise the red flags in adults, in children and in babies.
• Escalate a red flag, and manage an amber one with a planned review.
• Give safety netting a patient can repeat, and record what was said.

Modules

1. How sepsis starts and hides
2. The words that move a call
3. Red flags by age
4. Act, then safety net

An awareness course. Your practice's escalation policy applies, and nothing here replaces the clinical assessment of the person in front of you.

Content mapped to NICE guidelines NG253, NG254 and NG255 on suspected sepsis (November 2025) and NICE guideline NG237 on suspected acute respiratory infection, with reference to the UK Sepsis Trust general practice tools. Law named: No single statute applies. The standard is NICE guidelines NG253, NG254 and NG255 (2025), which replaced NG51, together with your practice's own escalation policy..

Sources

• Suspected sepsis in people aged 16 or over: recognition, assessment and early management (NICE guideline NG253, published 19 November 2025, partially updates and replaces NG51)
• NG253, Could this be sepsis? (when to suspect sepsis, and the people most vulnerable to it)
• NG253, Face-to-face assessment (what to measure, and how to interpret temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, mental state and oxygen saturation)
• NG253, Evaluating risk, including table 1: criteria for stratification of risk in a community or custodial setting
• NG253, Managing suspected sepsis outside acute hospital settings (emergency transfer, pre-alert, moderate to high risk, low risk)
• NG253, Information and support, including information at discharge for people assessed for suspected sepsis
• NG253, Training and education (regular training for staff assessing clinical condition and for healthcare professionals involved in triage)
• Suspected sepsis in under 16s: recognition, diagnosis and early management (NICE guideline NG254, published 19 November 2025)
• NG254, Evaluating risk level, including tables 1 to 3 for under 5s, 5 to 11 year olds and 12 to 15 year olds
• NG254, Managing suspected sepsis outside acute hospital settings (impaired immunity with any moderate to high risk criterion)
• Suspected sepsis in pregnant or recently pregnant people: recognition, diagnosis and early management (NICE guideline NG255, published 19 November 2025)
• NG255, Could this be sepsis? (pregnancy, birth, miscarriage or termination in the past 6 weeks as a high risk group)
• Suspected acute respiratory infection in over 16s: assessment at first presentation and initial management (NICE guideline NG237, updated 2 September 2025)
• Meningitis (bacterial) and meningococcal disease: recognition, diagnosis and management (NICE guideline NG240, 19 March 2024), recommendations 1.2.5 and 1.2.6 on antibiotics before arrival at hospital
• UK Sepsis Trust clinical tools, updated for the November 2025 NICE guidelines, including the general practice tools for 16+, 12 to 15, 5 to 11, under 5 and pregnancy
• UK Sepsis Trust Sepsis Screening Tool General Practice, age 16+ (UKST 2024 1.0), including the safety netting list
• UK Sepsis Trust Sepsis Screening Tool General Practice, under 5 (UKST 2024 1.0), including the age bands for breathing and heart rate
• Spotting the signs of sepsis (UK Sepsis Trust): the adult and child symptom wording used with the public
• Sepsis (NHS website): public symptom lists for adults, children and babies, and when to call 999 or 111
• National Early Warning Score (NEWS) 2 (Royal College of Physicians, updated report of a working party, 2017)
• Patient safety alert: resources to support the prompt recognition of sepsis and the rapid initiation of treatment (NHS England)

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GPAtlas is not accredited, verified or endorsed by Skills for Health or NHS England. Acceptance of this training is at the discretion of your employer, who remains responsible for confirming it meets local requirements. Your employer may require more frequent refreshers than the guidance period; the practice's own policy applies. Some pictures and films in our courses, and the film narration, are made with AI tools. We check every one for accuracy before we publish it.