This NICE draft guideline and its supporting evidence are now out for consultation.

The drivers for the 2023 update are the endorsement by NHS England of NEWS2 for risk stratification in people aged 16 or over who are not and have not recently been pregnant in acute mental health, hospital and ambulance settings, and new evidence about the timing of administration of antibiotics for people with suspected sepsis. To improve antimicrobial stewardship at the earliest opportunity, we have updated these areas of the guideline as a priority. We will update as soon as possible the recommendations that are not about antibiotics, but that relate to managing and treating suspected sepsis in people aged 16 or over who are not and have not recently been pregnant and are in acute mental health, hospital and ambulance settings. Until that is done, we recognise that the care pathway described in this guideline is disjointed.

You are invited to comment on the new and updated recommendations. These are highlighted in yellow and marked as [2023] in this document: Suspected sepsis in people aged 16 or over-draft-guideline.

All other information can be found on the consultation page.

If you wish to comment as part of a BSAC formal response please do so via this form: BSAC SEPSIS comments-form, returning by email to: fdrummond@bsac.org.uk

Deadline for comments: 13 April 2023

If you have any queries about this consultation, please contact sepsis@nice.org.uk.