Preventing patients from acquiring infections whilst they are in hospital is one of our top priorities for keeping patients safe from harm. The two most common types of potentially serious infections are MRSA and Clostridium difficile. We are required to record all cases of these infections found in patients.
Last year (April 2010 to March 2011) we surpassed our target for reducing the numbers of Clostridium difficile infections with 27 cases against an upper limit of 36. For MRSA our target was for no more than 4 cases, and we reported 5. This year (April 2011 to March 2012) we have been set even tougher targets.
For more information, including how you can help us to reduce the risk of infections, click here.
MRSA bacteraemia
MRSA stands for meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, which is a common skin bacterium that is resistant to a range of antibiotics. About one in three of us carries the Staphylococcus aureus (SA) bacteria in our nose or on the surface of our skin without developing an infection.
'Meticillin-resistant' means the bacteria are unaffected by meticillin, a type of antibiotic that used to be able to kill them.
If SA bacteria get into the body through a break in the skin, they can cause infections such as boils or abcesses. If they get into the bloodstream they can cause more serious infections, such as blood poisoning. More information can be found on the NHS Choices website.
We monitor all cases of MRSA bacteraemias in the blood stream.
Since 1 April 2011 we have had just two case of Trust apportioned MRSA bacteraemia. Our target is for no more than three cases up to 31 March 2012. (Last updated 13th March 2012.)
One 28 March 2012 we marked 300 days since we had a case of Trust apportioned MRSA bacteraemia.
Clostridium difficile
Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) is a bacterium that is present naturally in the gut of around two-thirds of children and 3% of adults. It does not cause any problems in healthy people. However, some antibiotics that are used to treat other health conditions can interfere with the balance of 'good' bacteria in the gut. When this happens, C. difficile bacteria can multiply and produce toxins (poisons), which cause illness such as diarrhoea and fever. At this point, a person is said to be infected with C. difficile. More information can be found on the NHS Choices website.
The chart below shows our progress against the upper limits set by our primary care trust each month - see the red bars. The yellow bars show a running total of cases this year.
April update: We had one inpatient C.difficile case in March. This brings our year to date total to 28 cases against a target of 23.
This is clearly an area of concern for us and our patients. Reducing hospital acquired infections, including C. difficile, is of high importance to the Trust. We have a dedicated Infection Prevention and Control Team who oversee the implemention of an ongoing programme to reinforce robust hygiene practice amongst staff.
In response to our performance breach we facilitated a peer review visit on 13 February where an independent team of experts visited the hospital to examine all aspects of infection prevention and control.
A report from the visit commented that all the expected infection prevention and control practices and procedures are in place and provided some very positive feedback.
They also provided guidance on new approaches to managing infections and these have been circulated to clinical staff and we have implemented an action plan which focuses on reducing infection rates.
More information can be found in the integrated performance report (month 10) in our Trust Board report.
