Infections under control at Tameside Hospital

Date published: 13 November 2009

Work to reduce the number of patients with hospital acquired infections is showing good results at Tameside Hospital as staff introduce further infection control measures.

Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has recently reported a reduction in the number of MRSA and C Diff infections for patients, achieving its targets for the first six months of the year.

In September the hospital had the lowest number of C Diff infections ever reported by the Trust when only five cases were reported. The Trust has reported six MRSA cases this year to date, three of which arose in the community and not in hospital.

The Trust’s infection control team has introduced more new ways of working throughout the hospital to ensure infections are kept to a minimum.

The Antibiotic Management Team, which was set up to help improve the prescribing of antibiotics across the Trust, is now also joining ward rounds to work with staff and further improve practices.

The Trust’s Director of Nursing and Infection Control Philip Dylak said: “We know that our antibiotic prescribing practices are improving and this is clearly helping to reduce our infection rates. Our figures are showing a steady downward trend in the use of antibiotics overall, both in the hospital and in the community, by GPs.”

In addition, the Trust has introduced tougher monitoring of infection rates and has also set up a new facility where patients can be isolated effectively, if necessary, for use when, on the rare occasion, a patient acquires an infection, or is admitted with one

“We continue to work with our local health partners to improve infection control. It’s not just about one area – it’s about improving a number of practices across the hospital and community. Hand hygiene is extremely important in reducing infections, but we also know that antibiotic prescribing has a huge part to play. Here at Tameside Hospital, we are looking at all areas of infection control.

“It is very encouraging that we have achieved our targets, but, like other hospital trusts, infection control will continue to be a challenge, particularly as we move into the winter months. It is important that we maintain our approaches to performance which have clearly begun to make a difference for our patients.”