Highland health bosses welcome fall in superbug cases
NHS Highland chiefs have welcomed new figures which show a "dramatic" decrease in the number of potentially fatal superbug cases in the region in recent years.
The health board area had 289 cases of Clostridium difficile (C. diff) infection among patients aged 65 and over in 2007 but by 2012 the number had fallen to 57.
Thirteen cases were reported in NHS Highland this year up to June.
The year-by-year figures in the region for C. diff cases among patients aged 65 and over were: 2007, 289; 2008, 150; 2009, 117; 2010, 80; 2011, 48 and 2012, 57.
NHS Highland director of nursing Heidi May said the figures should help to reassure members of the public that the board was working hard to make hospitals safer.
She said: "The dramatic decrease in cases in NHS Highland reflects the fact that we give infection prevention and control the highest priority. In recent years we have introduced a number of steps to tackle the Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) and it is good to see that this work is paying off.
"Any case of C. diff infection is one too many, and I can assure everyone that we will continue to work hard to ensure that our hospitals are clean and safe.
"One thing we have done is tried to ensure that infection prevention and control is everybody’s business – staff, patients and visitors all have a role to play."
Miss May added: "Hand hygiene is key and we have seen a significant rise over the past seven years in compliance, from approximately 65 per cent to above 98 per cent. This helps with the control of all infections, not just C. diff.
"And ensuring that wards are clean and that the environment meets infection control requirements is also crucial, and we consistently perform above 95 per cent in our cleaning and environmental audits.
"We do regular walk-rounds across the board to monitor standards, and our patient councils and our two non-executive directors who serve as infection control champions help us with this work."
NHS Highland is also about to appoint two government-funded infection prevention and control quality facilitators whose focus, among other things will be on care homes and the reduction of infections in the community.
She added that weekly reports had been developed to help monitor C. diff cases across the board area, identifying numbers, geographical location and themes such as an increase in the number of cases in a particular area.
"This ensures that we can quickly see any rise in cases and can respond promptly to the management and control of infection," Ms May said.
Other practical measures which have been put in place include working to significantly reduce the prescribing of certain antibiotics which are linked to the development of C. diff.
