i'm meeting intensive care consultant dr paul morgan, who is leading the fight against sepsis. through the door and a further 11 patients down the far end of the unit in what we call our high dependency area, patients recovering from being critically ill. i want to know more about what causes sepsis and why patients like my dad develop it. sepsis is part of the body's normal response to an infection. your body's going to react to try to fight that infection. but in some people that reaction goes haywire and that results in things like your blood pressure falling and your body responds by heart rate going very fast, 19 to the dozen. you start to struggle with your breathing. your bloodflow will be compromised and organs start failing. sepsis is treatable with antibiotics and fluids. if the symptoms are spotted quickly. but the symptoms can be similar to other conditions. typically what we see is the patient starts having problems like shivering. they might start to show signs such as slurring their speech or becoming more and more drowsy, confused. they might notice they are not