Table 1. Adapted PICO that structured the search.

PICO	Definition	Related search terms
Participants	Children with a focus on those under 5yrs old with serious infectious illness and their families	Family OR Families OR parent*OR caregiver* OR caretaker*OR carer*OR mother OR father AND Child* OR infant* or bab* or P?diatric*AND Serious infectio* OR Septi* (to capture septicaemia and septic) OR Sepsis OR Pneumonia OR Mening* (to capture meningococcal disease and meningitis) OR Encephalitis OR Respiratory
	First contact health care professionals in primary care, urgent & emergency care	General practi* (to capture general practice and general practitioners) OR Health visitor OR Paramedic*Family doctor OR Family physician OR Nurse OR Practice nurse OR Community children’s nurse OR P?diatric nurse OR children’s Nurs
Context	Primary care, first contact services, care in the home	Out of hours OR After hours Ambulatory care OR Urgent care OR Emergency care Ambulance service NHS111 OR telephone service OR telephone triage OR helpline Community OR Primary care First contact*
Interest	Factors affecting timing of admission to hospital/children’s journey	Tim* of admission OR dela* admission OR late presentation OR deter presentation OR dela* presentation Tim* of treatment OR dela* treatment OR late treatment OR earl* treatment OR timely treatment OR timely consultation OR dela* consultation Tim* of assessment OR dela* assessment OR late assessment Tim* of referral OR del* referral OR late referral Earl* diagnosis OR Late diagnosis OR Missed opportunities OR Recognition OR earl* intervention OR interpretation of symptoms OR identification of symptoms Barriers to healthcare OR access to health* Preventable OR increased OR decreased AND morbidity OR mortality Safety netting OR Information seeking OR information giv* OR Recognising symptoms OR health seeking Health service OR health systems Timely treatment OR Rapid management
Outcome	Consequences of factors affecting timing of admission such as timely treatment, early or delayed diagnosis, increased or decreased morbidity/mortality