Trust bucks national trend with low infection rates

Issued by West Herts Hospitals Trust

Dr Colin Johnston, Medical Director and Director for Patient Safety, said:

“We’re pleased to say that the Trust has seen a significant decrease over the past five years in hospital-acquired infections, as opposed to the recently reported national increase in the media.

"The Trust has participated in a major study on hospital-acquired infections and has seen a dramatic reduction in infection rates from 8.2% in 2006-07 to only 0.9% this year. To put this into perspective, this means only one reported case of an MRSA infection this year and only nine patients reported with Clostridium Difficile (C. diff).

“The safety of our patients is of paramount importance at all times. The key to the reduction in hospital acquired infections is due to staff proactively working together to ensure cleaning routines are scrupulous, developing a thorough and ongoing education and training programme, and conducting regular ward inspections. Our colleagues at Medirest should also be praised for supporting our front-line staff in ensuring the risks to our patients are minimised.

“In addition, the Trust has had no reported cases of the norovirus at present. As always, the Trust is being vigilant and is following infection control precautions to a national standard, which help contain and reduce the risk of all infections”.

Ends

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