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Addenbrooke’s beats MRSA and Clostridium difficile targets

08 April 2008

Addenbrooke’s Hospital has beaten its targets for reducing both MRSA and Clostridium difficile infection.

There were 41 cases of MRSA bloodstream infection between April 2007 and March 2008 – well below the target set by the Department of Health of no more than 50 cases. That’s a 67 per cent reduction from 2003/04, when there were 126 cases – and it means the hospital is moving up the league table.

For C. difficile in patients over 65, there were 281 cases – below the target of no more than 298 cases, and a reduction of 17 per cent from last year instead of the goal of 12.5 per cent.

Dr Basil Matta, the hospital’s Associate Medical Director, says:
“Preventing infections is a key priority for everyone at Addenbrooke’s and the Rosie, and staff have been working incredibly hard to achieve these results. These new figures show that our commitment to infection control is paying off.

“People always think NHS targets sound like bureaucratic red tape, but for issues like this it’s important to have something to aim for. Beating the targets means we know we’re going in the right direction. “The next targets will be set even lower – and we’ll expect to meet them, because our goal for the future has to be that not a single preventable infection is allowed to develop.”

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