Update to safety-netting discharge leaflets for adults and children (WHC/2026/027)

Status:

Action 

Category: 

Quality & Safety 

Title:  

Update to ‘Safety netting discharge leaflets for adults and children'

Action by:     

• Health Board Medical Directors
• Executive Directors of Nursing
• Heads of Emergency Departments
• Clinical Directors
• Sepsis leads                                                       

Required by: 

Immediately

Sender:           

Professor Isabel Oliver, Chief Medical Officer

Dame Sue Tranka, Chief Nursing Officer

Welsh Government Contacts: 

Teresa Bridge, 
Quality and Safety, 
Quality and Nursing Directorate, 
E-mail: QualityAndNursing@gov.wales 

Enclosures:  

Safety netting leaflets for the discharge of adults and children with a suspected or confirmed infection

Dear Colleague,

Aneurin Bevan UHB, in collaboration with the UK Sepsis Trust, has developed safety netting leaflets to support the discharge of adults and children with a suspected or confirmed infection. Examples with Aneurin Bevan University Health Board branding can be seen in Safety netting discharge leaflets for adults and children (WHC/2025/051).

These resources were developed with a significant contribution from Mrs Corinne Cope following the death of her son, Dylan Cope. Through her work with Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, the UK Sepsis Trust and colleagues across NHS Wales, she has helped shape national approaches to sepsis awareness, safety-netting practices and patient safety improvement.

NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership (NWSSP) has facilitated the implementation of these resources and secured endorsement for them from the All-Wales Medical Directors and Executive Directors of Nursing Groups. 

Health boards are expected to locally adapt the leaflets to include appropriate branding, relevant contact details and links to local resources.  Please also ensure the inclusion of a QR code linking to The UK Sepsis Trust sepsis screening tool.

When adapting, reproducing or incorporating these materials into local patient information resources, health boards should retain an acknowledgement of this contribution. The following wording is recommended:

This leaflet was designed in partnership with Corinne Cope, in memory of her son, Dylan.

Minor amendments may be made to reflect local branding requirements; however, the substance of this acknowledgement should be retained. This expectation applies to:

• local adaptations of the national adult and paediatric safety-netting leaflets
• public-facing sepsis awareness leaflets derived from these materials
• other patient information resources that substantially utilise or reproduce content from the original materials

If your health board is already using a UK Sepsis Trust leaflet at discharge, please review it to ensure alignment with the safeguards and principles outlined in the attached materials. 

The leaflet referenced in Spotting sepsis in children, awareness leaflet (WHC/2024/045), which has recently been updated, provides guidance for primary care teams to support parents and carers in recognising signs and symptoms of sepsis after consultation.  The introduction of the new safety netting leaflets will complement these resources, ensuring continuity of care and consistent messaging across both primary care and secondary care settings.

All health boards in Wales are asked to formally adopt and integrate the new safety netting leaflets into the discharge process for appropriate patients:

1. Embed leaflets into discharge workflows for Emergency Departments, Acute Medical Units, Paediatric Units and in other appropriate settings
2. Provide digital access via SMS or QR codes, with printed versions for high-risk or digitally excluded patients.
3. Ensure bilingual and locally branded formats, with hospital-specific contact details
4. Review content annually in line with UKST and NICE updates
5. Align messaging across care settings, including GP practices, to ensure consistency and clarity
6. Display QR codes to the UKST sepsis screening tool in waiting rooms and clinical areas
7. Include acknowledgement of the Cope family in future safety-netting leaflets and other resources developed from the original

The introduction of these safety netting leaflets will help provide a consistent, All-Wales approach to improving patient understanding of deterioration signs, reducing avoidable harm, and supporting national efforts to improve sepsis outcomes.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Isabel Oliver, Chief Medical Officer

Dame Sue Tranka, Chief Nursing Officer