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Search forSuperbug rates cut by nearly half in county hospitals
08:00 - 24-July-2008
In 2007-08 the number of MRSA cases at Gloucestershire Royal and Cheltenham General hospitals fell to 36 from 68 the previous year. Numbers of Clostridium Difficile infections in patients over the age of 65 fell from 1058 in 2006 to 775 in 2007. Total infection rates in younger patients has also dropped during the past six months.
Figures were revealed by the Health Protection Agency as part of a Government initiative to bring infection rates down.
MRSA and C-Diff are carried by some healthy people, but the bacteria can cause illness when they grow unchecked and elderly hospital patients being particularly at risk.
The recent fall in cases suggests that high-profile initiatives including the deep cleaning of county hospitals and introduction of a mandatory hygiene code may have helped.
Hospitals in Gloucestershire were among the first in the UK to introduce a patient screening programme for the superbug MRSA this year.
State-of-the-art deep cleaning equipment was brought into hospitals during January.
The health trust is working to ensure that no more than 18 cases of MRSA and 500 cases of C.diff are recorded each year in the county's acute hospitals.
Coun Penny Hall (C, Charlton Park), a registered nurse and member of Gloucestershire's health overview and scrutiny, said: “The hospitals trust and primary care trust are doing a great job and this is very encouraging.”
Dr Jim Stone, director of infection prevention and control at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are consistently meeting national targets and have had just four cases of MRSA and 121 cases of C-Diff within the Trust in the three months from January to March. this year.”
Murray Devine, safety advisor for the Healthcare Commission, the NHS regulator, added: “This is great news for patients.
“There's no question that there has been a very significant turn around, but the challenge isn't over.”
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