RD&E’s Acute Medical Unit Team raise £2,000 for UK Sepsis Trust

AMU Staff at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital have raised £2,000 for the UK Sepsis Trust by showcasing the care they provide during Acute Medicine Awareness Day on 21st June.

The national event, organised annually by the Society for Acute Medicine, aims to raise awareness of the specialty and all that it offers to patients and staff.

Most hospitals in the UK have an Acute Medical Unit (AMU) providing high quality, multi-professional care for patients admitted to hospital as emergencies. AMU staff provide early treatment for a wide variety of conditions, including lung and heart problems, acute kidney problems and dehydration, as well as infections such as sepsis. Sepsis is a rare but serious complication of an infection which, without swift detection and treatment, can quickly become life-threatening.  

In support of the AMU Day campaign, the team opened their doors to the public to show off the services that they provide. Throughout the day, they offered tours of the unit, with opportunities to take a look around ambulatory care and Medical Triage Unit (MTU), and asked people to share selfies on Twitter using #AMUcan to promote their work to care for patients. The team also held a cake sale and a grand raffle, in aid of UK Sepsis Trust as it is a condition often seen on the unit.

In addition, the team organised a showdown between some of their regular patients, members of The Royal Marines, and staff from the Exeter Chiefs and AMU, who battled it out in the hospital restaurant in the Exercise Bike Challenge to fundraise for the Sepsis Trust. After some fierce competition, it was the Royal Marines who emerged victorious in the end, cycling 74.18 miles in just two hours.

AMU Matron, Sarah Dale, said: “We felt that this was a great opportunity to explain to the public and RD&E staff about the work that we do here on AMU - to show how we care for patients on the unit and the treatments we can provide to help get them well again. Sepsis is one of the first things we check for when a new patient is admitted to AMU so it seemed very fitting for us to be able to support Sepsis UK with our fundraising this year. We are absolutely delighted to have been able to raise so much for the charity so thank you to everyone who supported us.”

The AMU team recently presented their fundraising cheque to Sepsis campaigner Melissa Mead on behalf of the charity the UK Sepsis Trust.