MRSA Action UK welcomes the Government commitment to ensuring openness and transparency on hospital superbugs

MRSA Action UK welcomes the Government commitment to ensuring openness and transparency on hospital superbugs

MRSA Action UK welcomes the Government commitment to ensuring openness and transparency on hospital superbugs

MRSA Action UK applauds the Secretary of State for Health Andrew Lansley on his announcement of changing the way data is released on healthcare associated infections. Whilst the target for MRSA and Clostridium difficile set by the previous administration focused hearts and minds on reducing the very high levels of MRSA and Clostridium difficile in our hospitals, MRSA Action UK always believed that this pledge could be improved further with more transparency.

Creating transparency for patients and the public will ensure that strategies to reduce the burden of infectious pathogens in our healthcare settings are implemented in full, and hospitals that have not been able to bring their infections down will receive the focus needed to bring equality to the high standards of infection prevention and control needed for safe care and help to identify hotspots in a timely manner. We have no doubt that this will improve standards and save lives.

Implementing strategies to reduce MRSA and Clostridium difficile further, we have always argued, would take a step change from the previous publishing of the figures every three months to on-line real time data, if you don’t consistently measure what you are doing, how do you know you are improving?

MRSA Action UK took the campaign to the Department of Health and Health Protection Agency to reduce the three month reporting down to one month, and at the end of last year we were pleased to see this happen. We had wanted the time-lag reducing even more, and we fully endorse this latest announcement from the Secretary of State for Health to reduce it down to a weekly target. We believe this is a significant step in the right direction and that improving the reporting from Trust level to hospital level will give patients better information on healthcare associated infections and help them to make a better and more informed choice when planning for surgery.

MRSA and Clostridium difficile however, are not the only healthcare associated infections in our hospitals and we have had grave concerns that other infectious pathogens are slipping under the radar. We would therefore welcome and endorse the promise that other infections will be monitored and reported in the future. We believe this is a huge step forward in the fight against all healthcare associated infections, and is long overdue. It must be remembered that infections of any description have the potential to be debilitating, increase the length of stay in hospital, and sadly sometimes cause patients to lose their lives leaving families devastated.

We have no doubt that many questions will be asked about the cost of introducing this change in reporting healthcare associated infections. Vast amounts of money have already been saved along with the lives of many patients with the current reductions in avoidable healthcare associated infections.

Last year the National Audit Office estimated that between 2004 and 2009 the NHS saved between £45 and £59 million in treatment costs by reducing the rates of MRSA bloodstream infections and between £97 and £204 million from 2006 to the end of 2008 by reducing the rate of Clostridium difficile infections. “There will, too, have been unquantifiable administrative costs and local expenditure on the drive to reduce infections but also potential benefits in terms of better ward management of staff and harm avoided to patients.” – Reducing Healthcare Associated Infections in England, 12 June 2009, National Audit Office.

This clearly demonstrates beyond any question that it is worthwhile investing in combating infections in our hospitals. The United Kingdom currently leads the world in monitoring, reporting and publishing healthcare associated infection data and this new announcement, we believe, will set new standards that will benefit everyone, especially patients.

This is a significant step in achieving a zero tolerance approach to avoidable healthcare associated infections, any healthcare infection is one too many in a civilized society.

Derek Butler
Chair
MRSA Action UK
Registered Charity No.1115672
http://mrsaactionuk.net
derek.butler@mrsaactionuk.net
Telephone: 07762 741114

Related article:
MRSA Action UK: Healthcare Infections – a manifesto 2010
Published September 2009 revised Monday 12 April 2010 – Politics.co.uk
http://www.politics.co.uk/opinion-formers/manifestos/health/mrsa-action-uk-healthcare-infections-a-manifesto-2010-$1370593$1220655.htm