Protecting you from infection

Our stringent cleaning and infection prevention measures have meant the chances of you acquiring an infection like MRSA while in our hospitals is well below most other large teaching hospitals and over the past four years we have been one of the most successful groups of hospitals in the country to prevent healthcare associated infections like MRSA and Clostridium Difficile.

What are we doing to reduce the risk of infection?

• We employ a dedicated team of skilled doctors and nurses who specialise in infection prevention and control.

• We provide hand hygiene facilities at every ward entrance and every bedside for patients, visitors and staff to use.

• We provide aprons and gloves and encourage staff to wear them when carrying out specific clinical care duties

• We have put in a system where we check some patients for certain infections as soon as they come into hospital.

• We have introduced a new, comprehensive assessment scheme where wards are checked against rigorous infection control standards.

• We closely monitor our infection rates on a daily basis.

• We have a ward cleaning programme in place where periodically, wards are emptied completely and cleaned from top to bottom to make sure they are scrupulously clean.

Testing patients

We test hundreds of patients for MRSA every day. We screen patients who are most likely to be carrying MRSA as soon as they are admitted to one of our hospitals. All eligible elective patients are screened for MRSA. .

We take pride in having clean hospitals

Cleanliness is clearly important to us. If you believe there are any issues with cleanliness, or would like to see information on cleaning frequencies in our hospitals, please ask the Ward Manager or Nurse in charge of the area who will be happy to help you.

See our Patient Information Leaflets about Infection Control here