To reduce unintentional and avoidable adverse events in patients in hospitals in the Netherlands, a patient safety agency (VMS) programme was launched in 2008. Among the VMS topics, the programme 'optimal therapy in severe sepsis', according to the international Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC), aims to improve early diagnosis and treatment of sepsis to reduce sepsis mortality by 15% before the end of 2012. We analysed compliance data submitted to the international SSC database from the Netherlands and compared these data with published international SS C results. Data of 863 patients, representing 6% of the international data (n=14,209), were used for analysis. In the Netherlands, the resuscitation bundle compliance improved significantly from 7% at baseline to 27% after two years (p=0.002). Internationally, the resuscitation bundle compliance increased significantly from 11 to 31% (p.