People who are severely ill with suspected sepsis should promptly be given life-saving access to antibiotics to prevent unnecessary deaths, according to updated guidance from a health watchdog. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has said that the national early warning score should be used to assess people with suspected sepsis aged 16 and over, who are not and have not recently been pregnant, and are in an acute hospital setting or ambulance. The national early warning score is a tool endorsed by NHS England in order to standardise the assessment of severe illnesses in adults. Sepsis, or blood poisoning, is a potentially fatal condition occurring when the body starts attacking its own tissues and organs in response to an infection. It leads to an estimated 200,000 hospitalisations, and 48,000 deaths a year in the UK. The updated guidance also recommends that doctors are more considerate as to who is given antibiotics, in order to reduce the risk of antibiotic resistance in people being prescribed them for less severe cases of sepsis. With the update, Nice says that more people will be categorised at a lower risk level where a sepsis diagnosis should be confirmed before being given antibiotics. Prof Jonathan Benger, Nice’s chief medical officer, said: “This useful and usable guidance will help ensure antibiotics are targeted to those at the greatest risk of severe sepsis, so they get rapid and effective treatment. It also supports clinicians to make informed, balanced decisions when prescribing antibiotics. “We know that sepsis can be difficult to diagnose so it is vital there is clear guidance on the updated [national early warning score] so it can be used to identify illness, ensure people receive the right treatment in the right clinical setting and save lives. “This update is the latest part of the process to ensure Nice guidance is as current as possible. We recognise this is a vital and rapidly evolving area, so this is the latest in a series of planned updates to our guidance.” Dr Ron Daniels, the founder and joint chief executive of the UK Sepsis Trust, said: “We welcome that Nice has provided this important update to their national guidance. We particularly support that the update continues to recommend the identification of high risk factors, while reinforcing the importance of clinical judgment to prevent injudicious use of antibiotics. “The recommendation for GPs and ambulance services to consider how they give antibiotics to people that are at high risk of sepsis is increasingly relevant as transit times increase, and could be potentially transformational in terms of patient outcomes. These revisions help end a period of instability, with healthcare professionals previously facing varying guidance from the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges. We’re now presented with an opportunity to deliver a coordinated and cohesive approach to the recognition and management of sepsis across the NHS. We’re delighted to be supporting the updated Nice guideline with a suite of clinical tools, which we hope will be used by healthcare practitioners to save lives.”