---

Health: C. Difficile

Answer

In any outcome measures this Government establish within the National Health Service, the driving factor will be the need to ensure all patients receive safe, effective and high-quality care regardless of where they receive it. National reductions, while a welcome indicator, will not be the only measure by which we assess progress. In the case of reducing Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infections, the approach of the previous Government was to use national targets, which placed no specific obligation on individual organisations to reduce their own infection rates as part of measuring their success. While there has been progress nationally in reducing the numbers of these infections, some NHS organisations have not contributed as significantly as other comparable organisations. Details on the level of ambition we propose to set from April 2011 for the NHS to reduce the level of C. difficile infections will be confirmed next month. The key aim will be to remove variations in C. difficile infection rates between organisations, by driving all organisations towards the best rates. We propose to set an objective for each NHS. organisation (acute trusts and primary care organisations) based on its historical rates of infection. Those organisations with the highest rates will be set the largest challenge to improve. This will result in a more clinically relevant objective for all organisations and address the variations in performance that have occurred in the past.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

4315; 722 c405-6WA

Session

2010-12

Subjects

Disease control NHS Standards Clostridium

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk