Great Western winning MRSA fight (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Great Western winning MRSA fight

12:11pm Friday 23rd February 2007 in Swindon By Gazette Reporter

The Great Western Hospital at Swindon has been named as one of the best in the country for tackling the MRSA superbug.

The hard work carried out by everyone involved has paid off, says Ruth McCarthy, its director of infection prevention and control.

Figures released by the Health Protection Agency placed the GWH seventh best in the whole country for dealing with the killer infection.

The is compared against 51 other medium acute hospital trusts nationwide.

The results are recorded in two ways - the number of cases and the rate per 10,000 bed days.

A bed day is the measure used to calculate how busy the hospital is and is a count of every time a bed is used.

"It is real improvement and it has been hard work. It has involved everyone here, everyone has made changes. This is real improvement from the top to the bottom."

Ruth McCarthy

The number of cases GWH recorded last year, from April 2005 to March 2006, was 18. This is when MRSA bacterium gets into the bloodstream.

This compares with nine cases at the best performing hospital and 63 at the worst.

The hospital's MRSA rate for the same period was 1.01 cases per 10,000 bed days.

The top rate recorded across the same category was 0.5 down to the bottom rate of 3.3.

"I'm absolutely delighted," said Mrs McCarthy.

"To be in the top 10 is fantastic and we want to be in the top five in the future.

"It is real improvement and it has been hard work. It has involved everyone here, everyone has made changes. This is real improvement from the top to the bottom."

The hospital is also on course for hitting it targets for 2006-7.

So far, since April 2006, there have been 18 recorded cases of MRSA.

However, 11 of those were contracted while the patient was in the hospital.

The other seven had been acquired before the patient was admitted to the GWH.

Mrs McCarthy said the last case was in December 2006.

She is confident the hospital will hit its target of no more than 12 cases by March this year.

A whole range of procedures and cleaning routines have been reviewed to help the GWH reach its current achievement.

As part of the Matrons' Charter, cleanliness has been overhauled.

From next month all computer keyboards on wards will have silver alloy covers so they can be cleaned easily.

The hospital is also looking at how fans on wards can be cleaned on a regular basis and to remove them in situations where there may be a high risk of airborne infection.

The practice for confirming cases of MRSA has also been speeded up with results now turned around in 24 hours.

There is also a new system in place where nurses can start the treatment for patients who have contracted the bug without having to wait for a doctor to prescribe the required antibiotics.

There are also new procedures for inserting cannulas into patients' arms. It is now recorded on the dressing when the cannula was put in to make sure it is removed again within 72 hours.

The final figures for 2006-7 will be available next month.

"We are definitely doing well but we will do even better," added Mrs McCarthy.

"We have a plan for next year and will be doing even more."