Health awareness video is praised for helping spot sepsis

A health awareness video co-created by University of Northampton researchers has received praise from a mother whose daughter’s life was saved after watching it.

Amber Mullally of Widnes, Cheshire faced every parents’ worse nightmare when her fourteen month old daughter Annabella became ill in the early hours of the morning.

Amber had, coincidentally, recently watched the video that was promoted during a national health campaign in July.

She was convinced Annabella’s symptoms could be the early stages of the potentially fatal condition sepsis and took her daughter to their nearest A&E department, who confirmed it was sepsis.

Her swift thinking, on the back of advice in the video, saved Annabella’s life.

Praising the video, Amber said: “For any parents like me, I was worried I was causing a fuss over nothing, but went with my gut instinct after watching the video.

“If I hadn’t of watched the video, I wouldn’t of known what was wrong. It made me aware straight away this could be sepsis. Thank you for the video; it really helped my Annabella and I’m sure it will save many more lives.”

The videos were co-created by University of Northampton Associate Professor in Children’s Nursing Sarah Neill, Professor Monica Lakhanpaul from University College London, both part of the research group called ASK SNIFF (Acutely Sick Kids Safety Netting Interventions for Families) and with Dr Lauren Fraser at the Health Innovation Network.

The video was funded by NHS England along with a second video on how to look after a child with fever.

Sarah Neill added: “This is such wonderful news. I’m very happy to hear that Annabella is doing well and that the video my research team and I helped create pointed Amber in the right direction.

“We know it can be difficult for parents to tell if their child is seriously ill and, if so, what to do next but this story shows that one video can make a huge difference in helping them.

“We know it isn’t always easy to ask a doctor to see your child, especially if they were seen earlier in the day, but children can deteriorate very quickly so it is important to know the symptoms and to have the courage, like Amber did, to ask ‘Could this be sepsis?

“We hope other parents have a chance to see the videos we have made, bookmark them and share them with their friends and family.”

Watch the video about Sepsis online here.

Watch the video about Caring for a child with fever online.

For more information about ASK SNIFF and their research see their website.

Find out more about the University of Northampton’s Child Nursing Course.