MRSA, Mersa, Staph, Staff Infection, Treatment & Symptoms

New MRSA Objective Reflects NHS Zero Tolerance Approach To Infections

New MRSA Objective Reflects NHS Zero Tolerance Approach To Infections, UK.

A new MRSA objective will focus progress on Trusts that need to improve the most, Health Minister Ann Keen announced yesterday. From April 2010, the MRSA objective will be applied to all NHS organisations to ensure patients receive clean safe care across the whole NHS. In November 2004, the Department set the NHS a national target of reducing MRSA bloodstream infections by 50% and the latest quarterly figures show that nationally there has been a 76% reduction. The new objective will require organisations with the highest rates to make the biggest reductions and challenge the best performers to sustain their low rates and strive for further reductions where possible.

Half of hospitals 'will have to significantly reduce MRSA rates next year'

Half of hospitals 'will have to significantly reduce MRSA rates next year' - Telegraph.

Half of all hospitals in England will have to significantly reduce MRSA rates next year as part of a crackdown on the potentially deadly superbug.  They have been told bring rates down to the national average or reduce the number of case by 20 per cent, whichever has the greater impact. Ministers are trying to tackle the worst performing hospitals, after successfully halving the overall number of cases across the country.  A report earlier this year from the National Audit Office showed that while rates of the hospital-acquired infections are falling across the country MRSA cases were actually rising in one in 10 hospital trusts.

Dirt and decay should have no place in our centres of healing - Press & Journal

Dirt and decay should have no place in our centres of healing - Press & Journal.

There were numerous examples throughout the hospital of consistently poor cleaning. It said that “no consideration” had been given to the risk posed to patients. To make matters worse, it is not that long since the husband of one patient highlighted his concerns by insisting on cleaning around his wife’s bed himself. Ian Selbie, from Lerwick, was so worried when his wife, Eileen, had to have an operation at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary that he followed her around throughout her stay with high-powered cleaning equipment to make sure she didn’t catch anything. Mr Selbie believed his wife was at risk of contracting the MRSA bug during her stay. He set about cleaning Eileen’s ward and bringing her food from outside the hospital. No relative of the sick should ever be driven to such a course of action.

Scottish Hospital bug rate at record low

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Hospital bug rate at record low.

Rates of infection from Clostridium difficile and MRSA in Scotland have been cut, figures have shown. Infections of elderly people caused by C. diff have fallen to a record low, according to the quarterly Health Protection Scotland report. And cases of illness caused by the drug-resistant so-called superbug, MRSA have also dropped. The decreases were welcomed by Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon, but she warned against complacency. C. diff rates have fallen 42% compared with the same period last year, while MRSA rates are down 25%.

Hospital bug infection rate falls in Scotland

Link: BBC NEWS | Scotland | Tayside and Central | Hospital bug infection rate falls.

Cases of hospital bugs MRSA and clostridium difficile have fallen in Scotland, new figures have revealed. Data published by Health Protection Scotland showed rates of C.diff between April and June this year were down 7% on the previous quarter. MRSA cases were also down 6% over the same period. The Scottish Government said it had achieved a 90% compliance rate with new hand hygiene rules, a key part of their battle against the infections.

FAMILY’S ANGER AT ‘UNDIGNIFIED’ MRSA DEATH

Link: icWestlothian - FAMILY’S ANGER AT ‘UNDIGNIFIED’ DEATH.

A GRIEVING pensioner slammed St John’s Hospital staff after his dead wife was left in bed for almost two hours surrounded by patients. Andrew Skedd said his wife had also contracted MRSA at the hospital — but he wasn’t told until after she died. He told the Courier this week: “Margaret was a beautiful woman and a very proud person, she did not deserve this.

MRSA bug ate my thigh

Link: Irvine Times | News | MRSA bug ate my thigh.

AN Irvine man who contracted MRSA said he was left in agony for six weeks by doctors - wondering if his leg would have to be cut off. Robert Reid, 56, eventually had to have a large chunk of his thigh removed in an operation to stop the superbug. He said: “I’ve never felt pain like that in my life. It’s hard not to be bitter.” The Broomlands grandfather of four claimed he contracted MRSA during a straightforward absece operation at Crosshill Hospital. And he said a run of medical mistakes meant he had to go back four times over two years before the damaging disease was stopped. Only when most of his leg was ravaged with holes, he said, did doctors admit that his antibiotics weren’t working.

Scots to pilot Extensive MRSA Screening

Link: The Herald : Politics: MAIN POLITICS.

The money will be spent on improving hygiene standards within wards, with a pilot scheme which will see patients entering hospital screened for the deadly MRSA bug part of the package of measures. The investment marks a three-fold increase in the amount which has been spent on tackling healthcare associated infections (HAIs) in the past three years and Ms Sturgeon said it sent out a message about how seriously the Scottish Government takes the issue. advertisement She said: "I know that patients and the public, rightly, expect the highest standards. Confirmation that we are massively increasing the amount of investment demonstrates the vital importance the Scottish Government places on tackling hospital infections.

Scots in 54m war on hospital infections

Link: Channel 4 - News - �54m war on hospital infections.

A £54 million war against hospital infections, including superbugs, has been declared by health secretary Nicola Sturgeon. The three-year plan will see a pilot screening programme next year for the MRSA bug ahead of a national programme the following year. A Scottish laboratory for another superbug, Clostridium difficile, has set up at Glasgow's Stobhill Hospital. Health officials said this meant samples no longer have to be sent to the UK laboratory in Wales, reducing the time taken for particular strains of the bug to be identified. In other moves, trained staff will visit wards more frequently for "hand hygiene audits" to check how often staff wash their hands.

Eight Children Infected By Resistant Bacteria In Glasgow Hospital

Link: Eight Children Infected By Resistant Bacteria In Glasgow Hospital.

Eight children have so far become infected by pseudomonas aeruginosa (potentially deadly bacteria) over the past eight weeks while at the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at a the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow, Scotland. Doctors are still trying to find out where the strain came from. Three of the children had become infected a few weeks ago and are not in hospital any more. The unit will carry on admitting emergency patients, but has been closed to elective surgeries. According to the hospital, all the five children who are still in hospital are responding well to antibiotic medication - they expect two of them will be moved out of intensive care tomorrow.

Pantomime video on the internet lands MRSA-spoof staff in trouble

Link: Scotsman.com

WORKERS at a Scottish hospital who performed a pantomime song about MRSA to the tune of the Village People's YMCA were condemned as "utterly disgraceful" after footage of the episode appeared on the video-sharing website YouTube. Costumed staff at Lorn and Islands District General Hospital in Oban were filmed singing the parody, which includes lines about washing hands after going to the toilet and using alcohol gels to ward off the superbug. It featured the chorus line: "It's fun to clean up the M-R-S-A". Advert for Bank of Scotland IASA The hospital was recently found to have the third highest rate of healthcare-associated infections in Scotland.

MRSA kills 75 in Scotland

Link: BBC NEWS | Scotland | Surgical 'bug' figures detailed.

A total of 126 people, 7.6% of those who died after surgery, had MRSA. In 75 of those cases, it was thought to have contributed to the patient's death. The report pointed out that almost half of the patients with MRSA had the infection when they were admitted. There were 301,894 surgical admissions to Scottish hospitals in 2005, with 240,302 patients having an operation. In 17.8% of cases where the patient died after surgery, they had developed a hospital acquired infection (HAI).

Scottish hospitals more infection prone

Link: Scotsman.com News - Scotland - One in ten Scottish hospital patients 'suffering infection'.

Professor Hugh Pennington, Scotland's leading microbiologist, said more attention was also needed to ensure that only patients who needed antibiotics were receiving them to help tackle drug resistance. Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish health secretary, yesterday pledged to step up efforts to combat HAIs in light of the latest figures, which give the most accurate picture yet of the issue. This includes the possibility of introducing an MRSA screening programme for those going into hospital. The new report, by Health Protection Scotland, suggested the rate of HAIs is higher in Scotland than the rest of the UK. A study by the Hospital Infection Society from February to May 2006 found that 8.2 per cent of patients in England had an HAI, 6.3 per cent in Wales and 5.4 per cent in Northern Ireland. Over the same three-month period, the rate in Scotland was 9 per cent. But experts said the differences in rates were most likely due to the more comprehensive nature of the Scottish survey, which covered every acute hospital and a sample of community hospitals.

Even flagship is not immune, says survey

Link: Scotsman.com

EDINBURGH Royal Infirmary is Scotland's flagship hospital, built at a cost of £183 million and with state-of-the-art facilities. But being the country's newest hospital does not make it immune to the problem of superbugs. Click to learn more... The results of the Health Protection Scotland survey published yesterday showed that on a single day, more than 11 per cent of patients treated at the infirmary had a healthcare associated infection (HAI). But the ERI has put much effort into combating HAIs. Every one of its 860 beds has alcohol hand-gels so that visitors and staff can clean their hands. The hospital also has special procedures in place to deal with patients having invasive treatments, such as drips. And a network of "cleanliness champions" also ensures cleaning standards remain high. Dr Alison McCallum, the director of public health at NHS Lothian, said part of the problem was that the ERI was treating some of the sickest and most vulnerable patients in south-east Scotland. "These include many of the people at the highest risk of catching HAIs and in many cases they will already have contracted them in the community, or elsewhere, before they reach us," she said.

SCOTLANDS KILLER HOSPITALS

Link: The Daily Record - NEWS - News Feed - SCOTLANDS KILLER HOSPITALS.

ALMOST one in 10 patients picks up infections in Scots hospitals. The figure is higher than anywhere else in the UK. In one Glasgow hospital, the rate is almost one in five. A report yesterday showed the infections kill more than 500 patients a year and cost the NHS £183million. Unions blamed dirty wards, claiming hospitals are grubbier now than they were 30 years ago. Health secretary Nicola Sturgeon pledged to take action. She said: "It is simply not good enough."

Horror crash teenager suffers recovery setback as she contracts MRSA superbug

Link: Scotsman.com

THE MOTHER of a city teenager left fighting for her life after a horrific car crash has revealed that her daughter has also had to battle the superbug MRSA. Kaya McInnes, 13, from Sciennes, has been in intensive care since the fatal road accident which killed her aunt and a family friend last month. Advert for scotsman.com's football briefing And her mother today revealed her daughter had been kept in isolation for the past three weeks due to the presence of the potentially fatal superbug. The infection started on a wound at the back of Kaya's head, sustained in the crash.

Nearly one in five Scottish surgery death patients had been contaminated in hospital — injurywatch

Link: Clinical negligence

      Nearly one fifth of patients who died after surgery in 2005 had developed an infection in hospital, it has emerged. However figures, from the Scottish Audit of Surgical Mortality showed an improvement on those released in 2004. A total of 126 people, 7.6% of those who died after surgery, had MRSA. In 75 of those cases, it was thought to have contributed to the patient's death. The report pointed out that almost half of the patients with MRSA had the infection when they were admitted. There were 301,894 surgical admissions to Scottish hospitals in 2005, with 240,302 patients having an operation. In 17.8% of cases where the patient died after surgery, they had developed a hospital acquired infection (HAI). This compared with 23.5% of people who died after surgery in 2004. A total of 4,147 patients died under surgical care while in hospital and 3,698 deaths were audited. The vast majority of fatalities, 3,132, were in cases where someone had been admitted as an emergency. A total of 310 deaths were recorded after non-emergency admissions - an all-time low. There were 179 cases where delays or the quality of care were thought to have contributed to the death of a patient and in 13 cases the area of concern was held to have caused the person's death.

Hands-on approach to infection control will beat killer bugs

Link: icLanarkshire

      NHS Lanarkshire infection control teams have been responding to the problem by working to tackle the issue with a range of initiatives to help combat infection, including specialist infection control teams in each hospital to ensure staff follow infection control guidelines. Lanarkshire are also the first health board in Scotland to employ a nurse consultant for healthcare associated infection (HAI). The health board have active MRSA surveillance programmes in high-risk units to identify outbreaks and act quickly to stop spread of infection. Other measures include: l Patients found to carry MRSA are treated with antiseptic skin cleansers, nose sprays and ointment which can be successful in removing MRSA from the body. l Nursing suspected MRSA patients in isolation and screening staff in the event of an outbreak. l Control of Infection Manual to help staff meet national guidelines. l Use of ultra-violet light to ensure effective hand-washing procedures. l Cleanliness Champions programme to train frontline staff to prevent and control healthcare associated infection (HAI). For Infection Control Week nurses will be stationed at Wishaw General Hospital tomorrow, Thursday, between 9.30am and 4pm to raise awareness of healthcare associated infections (HAIs) and how to combat them. Everyone is invited to go along to find out about the infection control nurses’ work and try the “Glo Germ” hand inspection cabinet to see what germs are lurking on your hands. There will also be competitions to test knowledge of infection control. NHS Lanarkshire infection control nurse Clare Mitchell said: “Infection control and prevention is relevant all year round but Infection Control Awareness Week presents us with an extra opportunity to display, promote and share information with the public and healthcare staff.” Infection Control Nurses Association’s Scottish Co-ordinator Shona Halley added: “We all have a part to play in reducing the spread of infection. Whether we are staff, patients, visitors or members of the public, it is important that we all remember that we need to work together to make a difference.” Top Top | Back Back | E-mail to a friend | Printable version Copyright and Trade Mark Notice � owned by or licensed to Scottish & Universal Newspapers Limited 2006 icLanarkshire™ is a trade mark of Scottish & Universal Newspapers Limited. Please read our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Statement before using this site.

Physio almost loses leg to MRSA

Link: The Daily Record

      GRETNA physio Michael McLaughlan last night thanked Kenny Deuchar for saving his leg - and possibly even his life. The 36-year-old was left in agony after contracting the deadly MRSA bug following surgery on a long-term knee injury. Doctors prescribed antibiotics, but said there was no guarantee they would work. McLaughlan then called Deuchar, a qualified doctor, for additional advice as the swelling was becoming worse. He advised him to head straight to the A and E unit at Wishaw General Hospital where doctors were so alarmed by his condition they admitted him to a segregation ward for five days. He was on the strongest antibiotics available and surgeons told him he had come perilously close to leg amputation or even death.

Hospital quells MRSA fear

Link: News - Stornoway Today

        WESTERN Isles Health Board have quickly stepped in to quell fears for patient safety after it was confirmed traces of MRSA were detected at the hospital. It is believed that traces of the bug were found on the handle of a vegetable freezer within the kitchens at the hospital during routine environmental surveillance. Denise Wilson, Infection Control Spokesperson, eased concerns claiming 'at no time were staff or patients at risk of infection.' She said: "We know that MRSA is present in the community, in peoples' homes and working environments, and poses no risk to healthy people. "As part of routine environmental surveillance, we check kitchen surfaces to ensure they are not contaminated. "In common with most NHS premises areas of MRSA growth are found. Organisms are often found on handles etc but survive for only a short period of time, which is the case in this instance. "Normal cleaning precautions carried out routinely in the kitchen will kill MRSA.The organism is not a cause of food poisoning and at no time were staff or patients at risk of infection."