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Written question asked by Baroness Elliott of Whitburn Bay (Labour) on Tuesday, 1 October 2019, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 7 October 2019 (named day). It was answered by Nadine Dorries (Conservative) on Monday, 7 October 2019 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Clostridium: Health Services

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the cost to the NHS of treating patients with recurrent C-difficile infection in each of the last three years.

Answer

Using data from United Kingdom hospitals, in 2017, Public Health England (PHE) estimated the cost of the first episode of Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infection to be approximately £6000. This can be viewed at the following link:

https://academic.oup.com/jac/article/72/9/2647/3867671

No estimate has been made of the cost to the National Health Service of treating bed-bound patients in hospital with C. difficile infection.

Severity definitions are not applied or recorded systematically for C. difficile. Therefore, it is not possible to estimate the cost to the NHS.

National statistics on C. difficile infection do not include the number or rate of recurrent cases in the United Kingdom therefore it is not possible to estimate the cost of treating patients with recurrent C. difficile to the NHS.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
292910
Session
2017-19
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Costs Health services Clostridium
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk