WIREDGOV

DH: Health Secretary Alan Johnson has outlined measures to help reduce healthcare associated infections in hospitals including new responsibilities for matrons, new guidance on clothing and the isolation of patients who are infected. Further options that may be needed to tackle healthcare associated infections will be examined in Lord Darzi's interim report into the future of the NHS, due to be published in October.

 

The new package includes the following measures:

* Clothing guidance will mean that hospitals will adopt a new "bare below the elbows" code by January 2008.

* New clinical guidance to increase the use of isolation for those patients who are infected with MRSA or Clostridium difficile.

* The National Patient Safety Agency will extend its successful cleanyourhands campaign to care settings outside hospitals.

* A new legal requirement will be placed on all chief executives to report all MRSA bacteraemias and C. difficile infections to the Health Protection Agency. Failure to report will be an offence.

Press release ~ Uniforms and Workwear: An evidence base for developing local policy ~ Isolating patients with healthcare-associated infection - A summary of best practice ~ Clean-safe-care.nhs ~ NPSA: Clean your hands campaign ~ Patient Environment Action Teams (PEATs) ~ National Patient Safety Agency ~ HPA - Healthcare-associated Infections ~ DH – Healthcare Associated Infection ~ DH – Healthcare environment ~ NHS Infection Control Training Programme ~ Microbiology and infection control

 

CLG: Hazel Blears has unveiled the first phase of guidance for new Local Area Agreements (LAAs), which are intended to ‘give local government more freedom to put greater energy, focus and funding on the issues that matter most to their communities such as tackling guns and gangs, getting people into work, improving maternity services and support for older people’ – See ‘In the News’ section above.