Health secretary Jeremy Hunt has promised a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of sepsis following another meeting with Penryn's Melissa Mead who lost her one-year-old son, William, to the condition.

Melissa was back in London last week where she met with Mr Hunt and representatives from the Sepsis Trust and Public Health England and came away happy with the progress made. "Everyone knows that losing a child is every parent's worst nightmare and that's why I am thankful that, at last, Jeremy Hunt has committed the government to making the public more aware of the symptoms of sepsis," she said.

"I anticipated going into the meeting that the real issue would be glossed over and we would just get the bare minimum, but it became apparent that the idea of tying a sepsis campaign in with other childhood infections would be really confusing and would not get the message across.

"He has asked Public Health England to go away and come up with a campaign that would be easy to deliver, that would be clear and engaging with the public and would encourage them to change behaviour when it comes to the way they think when their child, or themselves, is poorly.

"It is probably going to be a campaign in which we try to get people to think of the buzz word 'sepsis' and get that buzz word into people's homes."

Melissa and husband Paul lost William after doctors and operators on the NHS 111 service failed to recognise how seriously ill their little boy was. He died only weeks after his first birthday in 2014. Since then the couple have been campaigning to raise awareness of sepsis. "It's important to me, and others affected by sepsis, to do whatever we can to make sure other parents don't suffer the kind of terrible losses we have," said Melissa, who is expected her second child in the autumn.

Dr Ron Daniels, chief executive of the Sepsis Trust, said: "Tragic cases like William's show us how vital it is for members of the public to be able to recognise the symptoms of sepsis and to get the right kind of help. With better awareness of sepsis William might still be alive today."

Melissa, who has become an official ambassador for the Sepsis Trust, will be back in London for another meeting with Mr Hunt next month. "We will be thrashing out how the campaign is going to look," said the 29-year-old.