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Winning the war against MRSA
THE number of MRSA cases at Fairfield Hospital and three other hospitals run by Pennine Acute Trust have dropped by 25 per cent.
Figures for the six months from March to August this year show the trust had 40 MRSA incidents, compared to 54 over the same period in 2006.
Improved infection prevention work has been cited as the major reason why cases have dipped at Farifield as well as North Manchester General, The Royal Oldham, and Rochdale Infirmary. Louise Dickinson, the trust's nurse consultant infection prevention and control, said: "Staff at all levels have been working extremely hard to tackle all healthcare associated infections, and I strongly believe that the drop in the MRSA figures are a tribute to their efforts.
"It is also important to remember what these figures represent. For MRSA, the figures include cases where patients have contracted the condition in the community, as it circulates freely.
"Many times, the patient has the condition before being admitted to hospital, where it is then detected.
"We can then get on with their treatment.
"Of course, one infection is one too many and we carry out a lot of work to minimise the chance of patients contracting any infections. This includes using hospital radio to tell patients to remind their visitors to use the hand rub which is in place on all wards. We also have many signs up and bottles of hand rub on the wards, but we need everyone to play their part in helping us beat the bugs. It's a joint effort."
The most recent annual figures from the Health Protection Agency, which set cases against the number of bed days for organisations, give Pennine Acute Trust's hospitals an average of 1.51 per thousand bed days.
The figure is the lowest rate of all hospital trusts in Greater Manchester and is lower than the national average of 2.39.
The Department of Health announced recently that hospitals across the country would be required to undertake a number of measures, including ensuring that staff wear short-sleeved uniforms.
Meanwhile, the trust is currently waiting to hear the outcome of a bid for additional funding to help with more infection prevention work.
10:00pm Thursday 4th October 2007
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