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Health Care-Associated Infections

That may well be one of the 21 different new techniques and technologies that are being examined and trialled in some hospitals, to see whether the claims that the manufacturers make are borne out in practice. We have the most comprehensive surveillance system in the world for health care-associated infections. The European Union is using our approach to C. difficile monitoring as its model, as it develops a pan-European approach to monitoring C. difficile. We have introduced a wide range of guidance and best practice procedures to support managers and clinicians to best meet the challenges of HCAIs. That includes the publication in 2003 of ““Winning Ways””, which provides a clear direction for the NHS on action to reduce the high levels of MRSA and C. difficile. In 2005, we launched the saving lives programme, a key initiative that all trusts have signed up to, in order to implement best practice to reduce infection rates. The programme was relaunched earlier this year to include best practice on antimicrobial prescribing and C. difficile high impact interventions. The clean your hands campaign, run by the National Patient Safety Agency, is now in its third year. All acute trusts are signed up to the campaign and the National Patient Safety Agency is now piloting an extension of the programme to other health and social care settings. We have set up improvement teams in the Department of Health that are providing tailored support on MRSA and C. difficile. This summer, we doubled the number of these teams and, by the end of this month, they will have worked with 146 trusts. The work of the improvement teams has had a real impact on MRSA bloodstream infections in the trusts that they have helped. We continue to set challenging targets to ensure that this issue remains a priority. Trusts are already working towards the nationwide target to halve the number of MRSA bloodstream infections by April 2008, and the latest data show that good progress is being made. Trusts will also be required to reduce the number of C. difficile infections by 30 per cent. as part of our new better care for all public service agreement. Alongside this drive to reduce the rate of infections, there is a concerted effort to improve the cleanliness of our hospitals. High standards of cleanliness and hygiene are not just an important part of the drive to lower infections but a core part of what patients are entitled to expect from the NHS, day in and day out. In 2000, we introduced patient environment action teams, which assess annually every in-patient health care facility in England. The inspection covers hospital cleanliness, the quality of the environment, food and the issues of privacy and dignity. Thanks to the hard work of NHS staff, and to the priority that we have placed on this issue, hospital cleanliness has improved year on year since annual inspections first began more than seven years ago.