Hospital stamps out the superbugs (From Hampshire Chronicle)

Hospital stamps out the superbugs

2:10pm Friday 6th November 2009

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HOSPITAL staff are winning the war against superbugs, latest figures have shown.

The Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester has driven down infections with a strict cleaning and hygiene regime.

It has already attracted overseas praise, and the latest data shows that it is going from strength to strength.

Board members at Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare NHS Trust put the figures under the microscope at their meeting last Wednesday (October 28).

For 2008/09, there were 64 cases of hospital-acquired clostridium difficile, a fall of 63 per cent. It was also less than half of the limit of 139 set for the year.

The trust also aimed to restrict MRSA cases to one a month, but only recorded five for the entire year.

Sue Dailly, infection control lead nurse, said: “The number of cases has severely come down, and stayed down.”

The hygiene regime includes cleaning with chlorine, and tackling areas twice a day where bugs are thought to be lurking.

Staff are also diagnosing C-diff and MRSA more quickly so that any outbreaks are contained, the board heard.

Members also heard that due to their success fighting bugs, a team from Winchester was invited to America last month (September).

Seven nurses and doctors went on the trip to Boston, funded by the hosts, to share good practice.

They included the trust’s chief nurse, Paula Shobbrook, who said the Americans had a “can do attitude”, and were good at adapting to changes.

However, she said the NHS looked better in terms of patient safety and value for money.

She said: “It left me feeling very proud of the NHS and the Americans were very jealous of a lot of the things we had.”

She added that the rigorous cleaning in Winchester was not always mirrored in America.

“I was itching to go on a clean-up, and they were in awe of what we had done in infection control,” she said.

The board then heard that the Winchester team was unable to compare superbug data, simply because their hosts never recorded it.

Trust chief executive, Martin Wakeley, added that it was not unusual for patients in American emergency rooms to wait 16 hours for treatment.

In Winchester, 98 per cent of people are seen within four hours, current figures show.

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