Actor Jason Watkins reveals he used getting into character for projects as a coping mechanism after ‘horrific blow’ of his daughter’s death from sepsis

Actor Jason Watkins has revealed that he used the character projects as a coping mechanism after the tragic death of his daughter Maude from sepsis.

The actor, 61, and his wife Clara Francis sadly lost their daughter in 2011 after she developed a respiratory infection and then sepsis. She was two years old.

Jason found Maude, who was suffering from the flu, dead in her bed on New Year’s Day. Despite two hospital visits, her flu symptoms masked the sepsis and the diagnosis was not made.

Speaking on Wednesday’s Good Morning Britain, he told how acting was a way to help him cope with his grief.

He explained, “I used to just go into a corner and try to stay in character and I would hang on to the first thought that my character would have.

‘Sometimes I’ve been working on the character for so long and I can get into it straight away, other times I have to take some time.

“When we lost her, sometimes it was good to go to work and play a character while my wife was at home.”

Since her death, Jason has worked hard to raise awareness of sepsis and in September he backed the campaign to enable parents to urgently seek a second opinion in A&E, while calling for change in the way patients are diagnosed .

It came after Health Secretary Steve Barclay promised he would look at calls for the campaign – ‘Martha’s rule’ – following the death of 13-year-old Martha Mills, who died of sepsis after failures in her treatment at King’s College Hospital.

Speaking to co-co-hosts Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley, he added: ‘It was quite a blow to think that just a few weeks ago the Ombudsman’s report on sepsis care said nothing had actually changed . So I took it very personally.

‘I’ve had some very difficult days because you feel lost. I felt like a bit of a victim again – of sepsis and for parents who have lost loved ones.

‘Because people who have lost loved ones feel that. You feel that fate has dealt you a terrible blow.’

He added: ‘I think with a baby in A&E it’s a complex picture and it’s difficult to rule out, but that’s no excuse.

‘As a parent you have to consider whether it could be sepsis. Ask your doctor if he or she has a respiratory infection and rule that out first.

‘Martha’s Rule is a brilliant way to remind parents that you know your child. It’s parental instinct. I think the government needs to take action.

“It’s still there and it takes a society to understand that people are dying, and it’s a big problem. We have to address it.’

In September, Jason supported a campaign calling for parents to get a second opinion about an emergency room diagnosis.

In an interview with the BBC, The Crown actor said: ‘Knowing your own child, like Merope [Martha’s mother] knew Martha so well, she knew she was sick, and so that instinct is so important.

‘A parent’s instincts about how well or sick a child is should always be listened to.

‘What’s frustrating about sepsis, I think, is that it’s preventable, which is why it leaves parents so devastated, confused and angry.

“We think about 12,000 deaths could be prevented.”

He added: ‘On World Sepsis Day, which takes place today, this is a time to really focus on the way we diagnose people arriving at A&E in the context of sepsis.’

The star described Maud, who died in 2011, as a ‘bubbly child’ who was full of confidence and loved to sing on the bus.

Watkins has joined forces with the UK Sepsis Trust to help raise awareness of the condition among the public and doctors.

Maud developed a respiratory infection, which was treated with medication by her doctor around the turn of the year.

After her condition failed to improve, Jason and Clara took her to the emergency room, where they were told she had a bad cold and croup before being discharged.

Maud died at home later that evening.

Only later was it discovered that she had developed sepsis, a life-threatening response to an infection that occurs when the immune system overreacts and begins to damage the body’s own tissues and organs.

“She was a great girl,” Jason said.

‘She sang a lot. We always got on the bus and she sang in her stroller the whole time.

‘She was just very cheerful, had a sense of humor and radiated self-confidence and directness.

‘She was great. It’s really heartbreaking that as our daughter Betty grows up, she won’t have her sister to grow up with and all the things Betty does, Maude won’t be able to do.

“My memories of her are often tangled and mixed with the feelings of loss.”

Jason said that since making the documentary Jason & Clara: In Memory of Maude, which aired earlier this year and has been nominated for a Welsh Bafta, he has turned his attention to remembering ‘all the happy times’.

He said more must be done to ensure doctors in Britain receive regular sepsis training to remind them of the range of symptoms.

He also called for better clinical practice in the way people with sepsis are diagnosed.

“The idea that sepsis needs to be ruled out first,” he said.

‘My opinion is that the diagnosis should be looked at, especially in children who arrive at the emergency department. Sepsis is difficult to diagnose and the standard should actually be to rule it out first.

“Sepsis should be at the top of everyone’s list.”

Asked whether Maude might still be alive if the standard position was to first rule out sepsis, he said: ‘If sepsis had been at the top of the flagpole (when we took Maude to A&E), then she would be in have remained in the hospital.

‘Do I think she could have survived? I think that if the hospital trust today had the profile that some hospitals have in terms of sepsis, I would say yes, because then she would have been assessed for sepsis and that would continue to be assessed throughout her hospital stay. .’

Dr. Ron Daniels, founder and co-director of the UK Sepsis Trust, said doctors should have a ‘high level of suspicion’ about sepsis.

He also called for greater awareness among the general public so that they can confidently ask health professionals: ‘Could it be sepsis?’

He said: ‘If there is a risk of sepsis it can manifest itself in so many different ways, so doctors need to have a high index of suspicion. They have to look for sepsis and be really alert.

‘To get this right requires a partnership between the public asking this question: could it be sepsis? – and healthcare workers thinking about sepsis.’