Call for TV advertisement to counter 'shockingly' low awareness of sepsis

Irish Sepsis Foundation founder Doireann O’Mahony (pictured) said the advert would reach mass audiences and would be a cost-effective use of funding. File picture

A television advertisement highlighting the symptoms of sepsis is needed due to the “shockingly” low level of public awareness of the often-fatal condition, an Oireachtas committee has heard.

Irish Sepsis Foundation founder Doireann O’Mahony said the advert would reach mass audiences and would be a cost-effective use of funding. Joe Hughes, whose son Sean, a rapper also known as Lil Red, died from sepsis at the age of 15, said he had never heard about the condition before his son’s death.

Mr Hughes said his son became ill with flu-like symptoms just four days before his death and was prescribed antibiotics for a chest infection by his GP. On January 11, 2018, he became unresponsive and was taken to Temple Street Hospital. “The doctors in the hospital were baffled, they had no clue what was wrong with Sean,” he said.

After being transferred to the ICU, Joe and his wife Karen were told that it would be a matter of hours before their son would pass away.

“At no time was the word ‘sepsis’ mentioned to Karen or myself by the family doctor, the paramedics, or the hospital doctors. We are educating ourselves about sepsis and are shocked at the low level of public awareness in Ireland,” he said.

Calling for collaboration with the HSE in raising public awareness, he said:

There are almost 15,000 sepsis cases recorded in Ireland every year, resulting in an average of 3,000 deaths every year.

Fianna Fáil TD Paul McAuliffe said there have been small amounts of money spent on leaflets and T-shirts, but it was hard to see the evidence of what they have been used for. “I’d like to see the HSE explaining what the practical impact of this spending is,” he said.

Ms O’Mahony said there are “oddities” in the figures, stating that €27,300 was spent on E-learning in 2021, when €87,950 had already been spent on E-learning in 2019, while noting that less had been spent on a campaign in Scotland in 2018 which included an "extremely effective" television advert.

Sinn Féin TD Martin Browne said the money being spent on awareness was “having no effect”.

“What we want to see is tangible evidence of a commitment to driving meaningful change in highlighting and raising awareness of sepsis,” she said.

James Corcoran, from Cork, said his family was unaware of sepsis before his sister and mother of two, Tracey, passed away at the age of 37 in June 2020. 

She got sepsis, and unfortunately, when it goes untreated time is of the essence and sometimes the symptoms mimic other diseases. 

"We were obviously unbeknownst to sepsis ourselves so if we maybe knew the signs and symptoms of sepsis, we might have caught it,” he said.

Mr Corcoran said the death of his sister was made all the more difficult due to Covid-19 measures in place at the time. “We were relying on phone calls because we couldn’t go into the ICU. That’s what hurts a lot more,” he said before adding that he does not want others to suffer the same loss they have. 

“A mother and father shouldn’t have to bury their child,” he said.