Dr. Orla Healy:

Heretofore we have focused on where the evidence pointed for where the campaigns and interventions would be most effective and that is in the early detection, intervention and management of cases presenting in the healthcare setting. We started with the acute setting, then we moved on to maternity and paediatrics and now we have moved to general practice. General practice takes in a level of public awareness as well and also there are public awareness elements to the use of the website, having posters on ambulances and distributing materials to GP practices, public health facilities and so on and so forth, all of which we will be undertaking in the coming weeks and months. That is the published material that we would distribute. As we have said in our strategic plan, we are open to having public awareness campaigns; it is just that this was not the initial focus because the initial focus had to be where the need was greatest.

The other point about sepsis is that the illness does not start as sepsis; it starts as in infection and the sepsis is the body's abnormal response to that infection. Not all infections progress to sepsis, therefore, and it is important to recognise the sepsis at the early stage. You have to target the awareness at where it is most effective and, as I said, that is why we focused on the acute setting, then paediatrics and maternity and now general practice. We will look at the most effective way of communicating to the public and because the evidence is limited in how you do that we are looking at that and progressing it. We are committed to doing it.