William Mead's mother urges Jeremy Hunt to commit to sepsis awareness campaign

William Mead died from sepsis after medics failed to spot the condition Credit: SWNS

A bereaved mother has implored Jeremy Hunt to improve awareness of sepsis to prevent deaths like her son's.

Melissa Mead, whose 12-month-old son William died after medics repeatedly failed to spot that he had sepsis, has written an open letter to the Health Secretary asking him to "do the right thing".

A report into William's death criticised GPs, out-of-hours services, and a 111 call handler, who failed to realise he had sepsis.

William Mead died from sepsis after medics failed to spot the condition Credit: SWNS

Mrs Mead, 29, met with Mr Hunt in February to see where improvements could be made in care for people with sepsis, and she published the letter before meeting him again tomorrow.

Afterwards, she said they'd discussed the possibility of a sepsis awareness campaign, improved training for medics, and the sharing of patient records.

A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "Sepsis is a devastating condition and patients rightly expect the NHS to be able to recognise it and provide high quality, safe care.

"We have asked Public Health England to take forward a national awareness campaign to help parents spot the signs of sepsis, alongside other devastating infections such as meningitis and septicaemia."