For years, Australia has faced persistent challenges in capturing accurate sepsis data, including inconsistent diagnosis documentation, complex coding and no centralised reporting which has resulted in chronic underreporting.
These issues are not unique to Australia, documentation and data limitations are a global concern, affecting efforts to track and respond to the growing burden of sepsis, thereby hindering efforts to reduce the impact of sepsis worldwide.
Between 2020 and 2025, a series of projects were undertaken to address these challenges. Delivered through the National Sepsis Program (NSP) (2020-2022) and NSP Extension (NSPE) (2023-2025) these initiatives responded directly to the Stopping Sepsis National Action Plan (SSNAP) priorities. They represent an important step toward improving prevention, quality of care and post sepsis support, and the accuracy, consistency, and utility of sepsis data in Australia to provide a strong foundation for future system-wide improvements.
The Initial Data Scoping and Coding Review Project was one of the first projects to review how sepsis was being recorded in public hospitals. This review looked at clinical documentation and coding practices across Australia and confirmed that many cases of sepsis were not being counted in national data.
Although sepsis has its own diagnostic codes, those codes are only applied if the word “sepsis” is clearly written in the patient’s medical record. If clinicians describe symptoms like infection or organ failure without naming sepsis directly, coders may not be able to apply the correct code, leaving sepsis cases out of national statistics.
The review confirmed that inconsistent documentation and coding were contributing to underreporting. These findings helped shape later projects, including identification of a national minimum dataset and a data management plan to improve how sepsis is tracked and reported across the health system.
This initial data scoping helped clarify the extent of the problem and highlighted the need for national alignment.
The Sepsis Clinical Care Standard (SCCS) (2022) was delivered by the first NSP and has been a transformative step in terms of improving the coordination, consistency and timeliness of care nationally, for people with sepsis.
As a key achievement of the program, the SCCS plays a central role in delivering the SSNAP, translating national priorities into clear, measurable expectations for health services, clinicians and consumers. It provides a consistent framework to guide improvement, support early recognition and treatment, and enable benchmarking across Australia’s health system.
The SCCS comprises quality statements, requirements for health services and clinical practice, aspects of sepsis care that consumers should expect and indicators used to measure progress and inform quality improvement initiatives. Accurate collection and evaluation of indicators rely on consistent data collection, coding and reporting.
The NSPE included several projects to support health service implementation of the SCCS, including data projects to build on the foundational work of earlier NSP. These projects uncovered critical insights that have shaped national understanding of sepsis and informed future directions for care, coding, and policy. Together, they informed Australia’s first comprehensive national report on sepsis, the Sepsis Epidemiology Report– and laid the groundwork for more consistent and comprehensive data collection.
One of the discreet projects was the identification of a Minimum Dataset, which defines a core set of data elements for national benchmarking. Aligned with the SCCS, this dataset supports consistent measurement and quality improvement across health services.
Additional data quality improvement analysis examined the barriers to accurate sepsis reporting. These included inconsistent clinical definitions, variable documentation practices, and limitations in how sepsis is coded. The findings contributed to proposed reforms to coding standards and clinician education, essential steps toward improving the reliability of national data.
The NSPE Sepsis Epidemiology Report (2025), the most detailed national analysis of sepsis hospitalisations to date, represents a key outcome of Australia’s commitment to improving sepsis data and stands to be highly influential in shaping future policy, practice, and system-wide responses. Drawing on 10 years of public hospital data (2013–14 to 2022–23) and using explicit ICD-10-AM codes, the report revealed that:
- In 2022–23, more than 84,000 Australians were hospitalised with sepsis, far higher than previous estimates of 55,000.
- Over 12,000 people died from sepsis in that year alone.
The report was based on an analysis of more than 900,000 hospitalisations for sepsis in Australian public hospitals. It is the most comprehensive analysis to date of sepsis prevalence, outcomes and risk factors.
In parallel, the data research work progressed on the National Sepsis Data Management Plan, a strategic guide for consistent sepsis data collection, coding, and reporting across jurisdictions. When released, it will provide a national framework to support improved surveillance, enable better clinical decision-making, and strengthen the evidence base for future investment.
Without reliable, evidence-based statistics, it is difficult to assess the full impact of sepsis or to implement targeted, measurable improvements.