Implications for practice and research

• Nurses should provide individualised healthcare to sepsis patients with learning disabilities (LD) to improve their hospital experiences, faster recovery and long-term health outcomes.

• Individual and contextual barriers and facilitators should be explored to uncover patterns of accessing healthcare among sepsis patients with learning disability.

Context

Sepsis is a life-threatening systemic response to infection and warrants immediate investigation and accurate treatment.1 Sepsis is attributed to 11% of total mortality among people with LD who may face challenges in one or more aspects of cognitive information processing including recognising and articulating signs and symptoms of the illness, comprehension of treatment instruction and associated anxiety.2 3 Grant et al prospectively examined the experiences of sepsis survivors with LD and their carers.1