Trusts miss targets for reducing MRSA
Mar 12 2008 by Audrey Barton, The Journal
ALL hospital trusts across the North East except one look set to fail government targets to halve cases of superbug MRSA as the imminent deadline looms.
Hospitals are not meeting the targets ahead of a nationwide Department of Health requirement to halve MRSA bloodstream infections over three years by the end of this month.
Tough targets were given to trusts to make the 50% reduction, which hospitals have so far exceeded this year – with 253 cases of MRSA in the North East against a trajectory 143, which the region should be reporting to hit the final target.
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is reporting the highest number of cases and only South Tyneside Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust appears on track to meet the end of year target for which final figures are not yet available.
NHS North East has said cases of MRSA rose in December and January, which could be due to seasonal higher hospital admissions, but were now falling ahead of the performance figures.
Steve Page, strategic head of patient safety for NHS North East said: “It is a very challenging target and it always has been.
“Hospitals are working very hard to achieve these. With the exception of one, the trusts are exceeding their targets which has been the case for a while. We are aware of that.
“What we are seeing is a reduction overall which is important. The trusts are absolutely committed to reducing MRSA and Clostridium difficile and there are huge efforts to meet the targets.”
The region is fairing better in its battle against Clostridium difficile – C diff – with all trusts apart from Newcastle meeting their targets.
Hospitals are making every effort to bring down the number of patients hit with hospital acquired infections, and MRSA rates in the North East are down on last year when there were 369 cases, according to the health authority.
Deep cleaning is on track to be completed by the end of this month and the number of matrons is to be doubled to 300 to increase clinical support in hospitals across the North East by May.
Health watchdog the Healthcare Commission (HCC) which carries out annual ratings on all trusts is carrying out unannounced visits on hospitals across the country to gain an idea of the picture behind the statistics.
Failure to make the necessary reduction may affect trusts’ overall health rating by the HCC.
The Department of Health has issued new targets to continue with the 50% reduction into the next financial year and health bosses in the region are working on new targets to be agreed for the next year.
The health authority is also working with primary care trusts and hospital trusts on how to prevent cases being brought into hospitals from the community.
Liz Twist, Unison head of health for the region said: “It is good that they are taking it seriously, but what we really need is more cleaning staff on the ground directly employed by the trusts and recognised as an integral part of the healthcare teams to keep the hospitals clean and bring down infection rates.”
Dr Bryan Marshall, Director of Infection Prevention and Control at Northumbria, said that of the trusts’s total 47 MRSA cases, 18 patients came into the hospital with the infection and the total was out of 100,000 admissions.
“We are one of only a few trusts in the country screening all patients admitted to our wards for the presence of MRSA on their skin. We also carry out extra cleaning and have developed a new antibiotic prescribing policy restricting the use of certain antibiotics.”
A Department of Health spokesman declined to comment.
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How the hospital trusts performed
MRSA performance in hospital trusts to January 2008 against trajectory for year so far.
City Hospitals Sunderland: 31 cases against target of 20.
County Durham and Darlington: 18 cases against target of 13.
Gateshead: 21 against target of 12.
Newcastle: 51 against target of 31.
Northumbria: 47 against 23
South Tyneside: 8 against target of 10.
C diff performance to January 2008 against trajectory for year so far
City Hospitals Sunderland: 315 against target of 258
County Durham and Darlington: 269 against target of 370
Gateshead: 137 against target of 167
Newcastle Hospitals: 566 against target of 505
Northumbria: 350 against target of 399
South Tyneside: 78 against target of 101
