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Now it’s C difficile’s turn

The Government’s Chief Nursing Officer today welcomed a further reduction in MRSA bloodstream infections and announced the latest in a raft of measures to drive down rates of C difficile in hospitals.

Latest statistics from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) show a decrease of 6.7% in MRSA bacteraemia on the last published quarterly data, while C difficile infections for 2006 were 7.6% higher than 2005, a smaller increase than in the previous year.

Measures such as the MRSA target, improved surveillance and specialist improvement teams have helped hospitals to achieve significant improvements in MRSA rates. These measures will now be applied to C difficile.

Chief Nursing Officer Chris Beasley said, “The MRSA target has lead to improved clinical standards and the downward trend in MRSA numbers reflects this. However, even more work is necessary to step-up progress in the remaining year of this target.” Primary care trusts have also been asked to agree local targets for reduction C difficile. Highlighting the renewed focus on C difficile.

The NHS has welcomed the MRSA improvement teams model, which will be expanded to increase the impact on C difficile infections. They received support to develop an action plan to reduce infection rates, which explores the systems and processes used at the trust.

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