• Our helpline is a free confidential service providing support to anyone affected by sepsis and critical illness following COVID-19
• Trained nurses with knowledge and experience of sepsis, critical illness recovery and Critical Care staff the helpline. The first person you speak to will not be medically trained, but someone who is will get back to you within two workings days

Provide clear information about sepsis and critical illness

• Help understand sepsis and critical illness recovery and suggest options that may help with some of the problems you may be experiencing
• Signpost to other appropriate services that can offer advice and support
• Listen empathetically to your story and help you understand what you may have experienced
• Provide information on how to raise concerns about care or treatment
• If you have lost someone from sepsis or COVID-19, we can help you understand what may have happened to your loved one and provide the opportunity to ask questions

• Provide advice specific to any individual, either general, pharmaceutical or medical
• Make referrals on behalf of enquirers
• Seek to replace or undermine the relationship between you and your healthcare professional
• Offer treatment, diagnosis or tests
• Provide financial assistance
• Become directly involved in individual complaints or concerns

Confidentiality

Confidentiality is a fundamental element of the support service. It is an expression of respect for the people who contact the service and of their right to privacy. It assures people that the Sepsis Trust Helpline is a safe place to express concerns freely. Maintaining confidentiality means respecting the trust that people place in the service if they share personal details and information about their situation or experience. Details may be shared between Support Nurses when necessary for practical reasons or reasons of staff support and this is done with respect. No personal information about people who contact the Sepsis Trust support service is given, or otherwise made available, to anyone outside the Sepsis Trust, unless the enquirer has specifically agreed or requested to participate in publicity or other activities relating to their condition or circumstances.

Each member of staff is responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of information entrusted to them by working within GDPR guidelines. If a member of staff is unsure about what action they should take regarding confidential information in a particular situation, they should discuss this with the lead nurse, or their deputy in their absence.

Contact Records

• The key principle of the support service record keeping is to store the minimum information possible to accurately record the nature of the contact, and the information and support provided.  This is to further enhance the service for the service user, should they have multiple contacts.  These can be anonymised at the request of the service user
• Past medical history should only be documented if specifically relevant to the contact
• Helpline workers are trained to ask appropriate questions which will help to clarify the service users information and/or support
• All records will be stored digitally, and no printed or written records will be stored
• All support contacts are recorded on a CRM as constituent code ‘support call/email’, second constituent codes are recorded to reflect the nature of the contact, e.g. survivor, bereaved
• Each contact is also recorded anonymously on an excel spread sheet for statistical purposes.  The only identifying information will be the contact constituent number from the CRM
• Access to the CRM is password Each support team member is responsible for securing their own password details and should not use remember password options on any devices
• Support contacts on the CRM are only accessible to the Sepsis Trust support team staff and no personal details are passed on to third party.

Please see our privacy policy HERE for further information