10:29am Thursday 6th March 2008
WINCHESTER health chiefs are battling a outbreak of a deadly superbug which has killed one patient at the hospital.
Since the beginning of February, 29 patients at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital have been infected with the potentially fatal Clostridium difficile.
Managers say one elderly frail woman died after contracting the bug. The others survived and are said to be recovering.
C diff has been involved in the deaths of five patients at the Romsey Road hospital since April 2007.
Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare Trust declared a "serious untoward incident" three weeks ago, it was revealed at the public trust board meeting yesterday (March 6).
The Health Protection Unit and an outside consultant microbiologist with experience of tackling a major outbreak were called in to check measures taken to fight the bug which thrives in dirty wards.
Patients with C diff are being nursed in a revamped isolation ward while other wards with more than two cases of the bug are cleaned twice daily.
Managers say an unannounced spot check on January 22 showed the trust is meeting the Hygiene Code brought in to combat an increase in hospital acquired infection.
Healthcare Commission inspectors checked hand hygiene and cleanliness of toilets, sinks and cupboards.
There were no breaches of hygiene standards, according to the board report.
Speaking at the board meeting, Paula Shobbrook, deputy director of nursing, said 21 of the patients with C diff were aged over 65.
She said: "This is very nasty diarrhoea. We are not under-estimating how much distress it can cause for these patients. It really does have a huge impact on them and we want to do anything we can to bring it under control."
C diff can be carried in the gut of healthy adults without producing any ill effects.
But when patients are given antibiotics, their "healthy" bacteria are killed off, leaving the gut vulnerable to infection by drug resistant C diff resulting in severe, life-threatening diarrhoea.
It can also be spread on the hands of doctors and nurses - though eliminated by soap and water.
Mrs Shobbrock said hospital patients often needed antibiotics to treat serious illnesses.
Because of the outbreak, antibiotic prescribing policy had been urgently reviewed and further tightened for the over-65s, so targeted drugs were given rather than those that kill off all bacteria in the gut.
She said: "The rate of infection is slowing down."
Between April 2007 and February 2008, there have been 160 cases of C diff at the RHCH. Of the total, 133 patients were infected in the hospital and 27 in the community.
The trust - which banned Christmas decorations and flowers in a bid to stamp out superbugs - will now miss its target for reducing C diff.
Chief executive Martin Wakeley said the trust was spending an extra £30,000 per week tackling the outbreak.
He said: "Everything that can and should be done is being down to improve patient care, regardless of cost."
Disposable radios and newspapers have been brought for patients on the isolation ward who felt cut off.
Shirley Kenneally, chairman of the RHCH patients' forum said: "We are concerned about the outbreak, but reassured the trust is doing what needs to be done."
C Diff now claims twice as many lives are MRSA.
Dr Matthew Dryden, consultant microbiologist at the RHCH, said the presence of C Diff was recorded on five death certificates since April 2007.
He said the superbug was the main cause of death for one patient killed in the outbreak and a "contributory factor" in four earlier deaths.
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