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The Health Service Executive reported almost 12,000 cases of sepsis and septic shock in Irish hospitals last year, with a 21.2% mortality rate. A 16‑year‑old survivor, Sophie Lanigan, lost her hands and feet after a severe infection led to septic shock, underscoring the need for prevention and improved treatment. The HSE's new sepsis strategy for 2026-2030 aims to address prevention, care, survivor support and research.
Almost 12,000 cases of sepsis and septic shock recorded in Irish hospitals last year, with death rate standing at 21.2% Sepsis survivor Sophie Lanigan at the launch of the HSE’s five-year Sepsis Strategy: Action on Sepsis.
Photograph: Bryan O’Brien/The Irish TimesSophie Lanigan woke up with a high temperature on a Sunday morning in December 2022. Just 36 hours later, the schoolgirl was on a ventilator, fighting for her life having developed sepsis. The 16-year-old, from Blanchardstown in Dublin, told The Irish Times that what had started out as Strep-A led to sepsis – and the then-sixth-class pupil having to have her hands and feet amputated.
Sophie had a high temperature on the Sunday and stayed home from school on the Monday, as her temperature remained high and she was vomiting. Her mother took her to see a GP, and from there she was brought toWRC awards €11,000 to worker sacked within days of warning bosses about manager’s ‘irregular’ practices‘World’s largest’ betting website closed to Irish users after regulator action The then 12-year-old was put on a ventilator, but her body was in septic shock and her organs were already failing.
She was transferred to“The medication that they had to give me to save my life, and to like save all my organs, stops the blood flow to my hands and my feet,” she said. Sophie said this meant the medical team “didn’t really have much of a choice but to amputate” her hands and feet.
Life since then has been “really tough”, Sophie said, but she has “learned to do most things again” such as writing and drawing, which she loves to do. She is able to walk with the use of prosthetics. The HSE’s sepsis strategy for 2026-2030 focuses on areas including prevention, improving treatment and support for survivors, and research.
There were almost 12,000 cases of sepsis and septic shock in Irish hospitals last year, with the death rate from confirmed cases standing at 21.2 per cent. Michael O’Dwyer, clinical lead of the HSE Sepsis Programme, said the strategy was “vitally important”, as it puts a structure in place for dealing with sepsis and takes account of international best practice.
He said the strategy “takes a real steer from the patients who’ve been affected by sepsis and their families, and what we can do better”. O’Dwyer said the symptoms of sepsis can include slurred speech or confusion, extreme temperature or pain, low urine output, skin changes, shortness of breath and feeling like you are going to die.
“You don’t have to have all of them, and sometimes you don’t have any of them. It’s a very varied set of symptoms,” he said.
“The important thing is to recognise that your family member or that somebody that you’re caring for just isn’t themselves and they have an infection. ”“Sepsis is a priority for the department and for the HSE,” she said.
“Staff are constantly striving to improve the detection and treatment of patients with sepsis, and this strategy puts real form on that in a real direction and real awareness of it. ”“We’ve come on so much in the last couple of years with regards to the signs and symptoms, but, you know, there’s still so much more educating and more awareness we can be bringing to the public,” she said. Should therapists be in therapy?
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