Sepsis Six Audit

This guided demonstration shows a completed audit of Sepsis Six bundle compliance with realistic but fictional data.

• Foundation Doctors and Internal Medicine Trainees
• Acute Medicine and Emergency Medicine teams
• Critical Care outreach and sepsis nurses
• QI Leads and Governance teams

• Measure time to each Sepsis Six element
• Identify common delays and missed elements
• Support reliable escalation and senior review
• Generate governance-ready evidence

• Anonymised case identifier
• Date and time of recognition
• Time to oxygen, fluids, antibiotics, lactate, cultures, urine output
• Escalation and senior review

• Live dashboard
• Audit report (Word)
• Executive summary (Word)
• Excel workbook
• PowerPoint presentation
• Conference poster
• ARCP evidence summary

This ready-built project is developed using the guidance, standards and authoritative sources listed below, so you can see what is being measured and why. Lazomis QI does not publish or own this guidance, and inclusion here does not imply endorsement or approval by any of these organisations.

• NICE

  NG253: Suspected sepsis — recognition, assessment and early management in people aged 16 or over(opens the original source in a new tab)

  Recognition of suspected sepsis, risk assessment, escalation, initial investigation and early management principles for adults.

• NICE

  QS213: Suspected sepsis in over 16s(opens the original source in a new tab)

  Quality statements on timely assessment, escalation and treatment of adults with suspected sepsis.

• NICE

  CG50: Acutely ill adults in hospital — recognising and responding to deterioration(opens the original source in a new tab)

  Monitoring, graded response strategies and timely review of the acutely deteriorating adult.

• Royal College of Physicians

  National Early Warning Score (NEWS2)(opens the original source in a new tab)

  Structured assessment of acute illness severity and the recommended escalation response where NEWS2 is used locally.

• NICE

  NG15: Antimicrobial stewardship — systems and processes for effective antimicrobial medicine use(opens the original source in a new tab)

  Antimicrobial prescribing documentation, review and stewardship expectations where antibiotic review is included locally.

• Local policy

  Local sepsis, deteriorating patient, antimicrobial, oxygen, fluid and escalation policies

  Local sepsis pathway, NEWS2 and deteriorating patient policy, escalation and critical care outreach criteria, antimicrobial guideline and formulary, blood culture policy, oxygen prescribing and target saturation policy, intravenous fluid guideline, lactate or blood gas guidance, urine output and catheterisation policy, handover or SBAR policy, treatment escalation and ReSPECT or DNACPR policy and EPR sepsis documentation guidance define what is required locally. Antibiotic choice and timing, oxygen targets, fluid volumes, lactate thresholds and response times are set locally and are not defined here. Confirm local policy before interpreting results.

• Designed to use anonymised or pseudonymised audit identifiers.
• This tool supports, but does not replace, clinical judgement.
• Local policy, formulary and specialist advice should be followed.
• Organisations remain responsible for local governance arrangements.

Supporting guidance from the Lazomis QI Resource Library. Authoritative clinical standards referenced by this project remain separate.

• Clinical GovernanceLeveraging Incident Themes for Quality Improvement and Patient SafetyThis guide helps NHS teams identify and analyse recurring incident themes, transforming reported safety events into practical quality improvement opportunities to enhance patient safety and system reliability.
• Clinical GovernanceIntegrating Quality Improvement into Clinical Governance FrameworksThis article explores the vital relationship between Quality Improvement (QI) and Clinical Governance within the NHS, demonstrating how they are two sides of the same coin when aiming for continuous, systematic improvement in patient care.
• Patient SafetyEscalation Failures: Understanding and Preventing Harm in Clinical PracticeEscalation failures are a significant contributor to avoidable harm in healthcare. This guide explores their root causes and outlines practical steps for NHS staff to improve communication, clinical handover, and timely senior review.
• Patient SafetyIntegrating Patient Safety and Quality Improvement: A Practical Guide for UK CliniciansThis guide explains the foundational principles of patient safety and quality improvement (QI) within the UK healthcare context, offering practical strategies for clinicians to enhance safety and improve care delivery.