DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
News Release (2007/0188) issued by The Government News Network on 4
July 2007
Directors of
nursing to get funds for improvements as infection improvement
teams double in size
Secretary of State for Health Alan Johnson today announced £50
million extra funding to tackle healthcare associated infections
(HCAIs) such as MRSA and C.difficile.
Bug-busting infection Improvement Teams will double in size so
that any Trust that is not on course to meet the 2008 MRSA target
or has a significant number of patients with C.difficile, will
have access to a team of experts to help them reduce infection.
Strategic Health Authority Directors of Nursing will each receive
£5 million. Working with PCTs, they will make sure that front-line
clinicians make the changes which help them in the fight against HCAIs.
Health Secretary, Alan Johnson, said:
"Tackling MRSA and other healthcare associated infections is
one of my immediate priorities.
"NHS staff have worked hard to slow the increase in
C.difficile reports from 17 per cent to 8 per cent, whilst
reducing MRSA bloodstream infections in the three months to
December last year by 20 per cent, compared with 2003-04. This is
a step in the right direction but clearly more must be done to
improve the quality of care and patient safety.
"I am therefore asking each Director of Nursing in every
Strategic Health Authority to make sure that frontline clinicians
are supported in the work they do to reduce infection and to
provide a clean, safe environment.
"On top of this I am doubling the size of the DH infection
Improvement Team so that all Trusts struggling to reduce
infections can have access to experts in prevention and control of infection."
Chief Nursing Officer, Christine Beasley, said:
"I know from my visits to the NHS that some frontline
clinicians have trouble accessing modern equipment. This
announcement will help frontline NHS staff make a real difference
to infection rates by giving them the power to make the changes
they know will help patients.
Since last February, the Department's Improvement Teams have
successfully helped around 70 NHS Trusts to identify and implement
changes to bring their infection rates down. Most trusts visited
have seen significant improvements with reductions in MRSA rates
of between 16 and 34 per cent. The teams have recently extended
their work to cover C. difficile infections.
The Improvement Teams are groups of experts such as doctors,
nurses, microbiologists, infection control practitioners and
service improvement experts who work with NHS organisations to:
- Diagnose the issues which need to be tackled if there is to be
better prevention and control of MRSA bloodstream infections and
C. difficile infections
- Develop action plans with realistic
implementation timescales
- Implement agreed plans and put in
place management and support arrangements that facilitate
sustained improvement
- Act as a catalyst for other Trusts and
demonstrate that by adopting best practice rates can be reduced to
lower levels at a faster rate.
Notes to editors
1. The risk of getting an MRSA bloodstream infection is low. For
example, the NHS treats a million people every 36 hours and there
were approximately 7000 such infections last year, which is 1 in
1,450 admissions.
2. Although we know that many patients who contract infections
are already extremely ill, the vast majority of patients that do
get an HCAI recover
3. The Health Act and the supporting Code of Practice gives the
Healthcare Commission powers to deal with organisations where
measures to tackle HCAI are inadequate. Those Trusts, which are
not complying with the Code, must do so or risk receiving an
Improvement Notice.
4. The Healthcare Commission have announced that they will carry
out 120 visits between now and the end of March 2008 to check
compliance with the hygiene code.
5. Details of how the £50 million will be allocated will be
issued later, but it will be available for use wherever it is most needed.
6. For all of the latest tools for tackling healthcare associated
infections visit http://www.clean-safe-care.nhs.uk
[ENDS]