Hospital fighting superbugs

Hospital bosses in Staffordshire are boosting the war against superbugs with a new public awareness campaign after seeing more than 200 cases this year.

Mid Staffordshire General Hospitals NHS Trust has launched a fresh "bug-busting" drive in a bid to prevent the spread of such infections. Bosses announced the Hands Up For The Cleanest Hospital campaign for Staffordshire General and Cannock Chase hospitals this week at the trust's annual meeting.

Latest hospital figures show that there have been 199 cases of Clostridium Difficile (C.diff) between January and August this year, compared to 416 between January and December 2006.

There were 10 recorded cases of MRSA from April to August this year, compared to 25 between April last year to March this year. The hospital trust has been awarded £212,000 by the Department of Health to build up its arsenal of weapons against the spread of such infections, on top of £100,000 extra already invested by the trust itself.

A public awareness campaign about how patients, visitors and staff can all help in the war on superbugs is being drawn up. One idea currently being investigated is "speaking signs" in the hospitals, reminding people to wash their hands.

Four extra cleaning staff are being recruited, steam cleaning machines to decontaminate clinical equipment are being bought and there will be a pilot project testing out disposable equipment in isolation rooms.

Trust chief executive Martin Yeates said: "These are just a few of the actions we'll be taking as part of our "zero tolerance" approach to infections. The aim is to stamp out bugs like MRSA and C.diff."

Mr Yeates said that the trust was still seeing more patients with MRSA than its target – with nine cases between April and July, compared to the aim of no more than four.

Director of nursing Helen Moss said: "Every time a patient is touched by a health care professional or a visitor, several thousand bacteria can be transmitted. Besides washing hands themselves, we encourage patients and visitors to ask staff if they have washed their hands."