17 July 2008
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are among the cleanest in the country and new figures published today by the Health Protection Agency show they continue to be one of the best hospital trusts for preventing hospital acquired infections including MRSA.
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals already have one of the lowest rates of MRSA in the UK compared to other large teaching hospital trusts, but new figures released today show the number of cases of MRSA continues to fall even further.
This year to date there has been a 60% drop in the number of cases of MRSA blood stream infection. Out of the half a million patients treated at Sheffield hospitals in the last 6 months there were 11 such cases. This represents less than a 0.01% chance of a patient at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals acquiring a MRSA blood stream infection.
The Health Protection figures also show the January to March 2008 figures for Clostridium difficile being the lowest for two years and the April to June 2008 figures falling to below the number seen in 2004-5.
Health bosses attribute the reduction in MRSA and C. difficile cases to a zero tolerance approach to infection control and the commitment of staff to protect patients from infection.
Chief Nurse Hilary Scholefield explains that despite the continued low rate of MRSA she is not complacent and every avenue possible is explored to further reduce the chances of patients contracting MRSA or C. difficile.
This includes increased screening of patients for MRSA when they are admitted to hospital, reduced use of certain antibiotics, hand washing awareness campaigns and a recent 'deep cleaning' of wards in the hospitals. This has involved using a hydrogen peroxide 'fogging machine' which has been proven to remove various types of infection including C.difficile spores.
"Keeping our patients free from infection is our top priority and so we will continue our zero tolerance approach to infection prevention and control and ensure our hospitals are scrupulously clean. Every year we treat over a million patients and this year to date we have had 11 cases of MRSA blood stream infection, some of which were bought in from the community. We intend to try and reduce that even further with the help of our excellent staff at both hospitals. We also encourage visitors to our hospitals to help prevent the spread of MRSA, simply by cleaning their hands using the gel dispensers at the entrance to all our wards and departments.'