C Diff superbug probe should cover all Scottish hospitals

Published on Tuesday 4 August 2009 14:59

A PUBLIC inquiry into a hospital bug outbreak should be extended to cover the entire country, Labour said today.

The inquiry announced by Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon in April was to focus on the Clostridium difficile outbreak in Vale of Leven Hospital which killed nine people.

But Labour health spokeswoman Cathy Jameson said today that recent outbreaks of C diff in other hospitals should also be examined.

"It is vitally important that the remit of the public inquiry is wide enough to cover the whole of Scotland," Ms Jameson said.

"We need to learn lessons from what happened during recent outbreaks in Glasgow and the north of Scotland, as well as the Vale of Leven."

It emerged last week that 18 people died from C diff in Glasgow's Gartnavel Hospital in 2008, according to provisional health board figures, with a further 10 people dying the year before.

Elgin's Dr Gray's Hospital stopped admitting patients to two wards in May when two elderly patients died, while C diff contributed to two patients' deaths in Balfour Hospital in Kirkwall, Orkney, at the start of the year.

As well as nine people dying of C diff in Vale of Leven Hospital in a six-month outbreak last year, the bug contributed to the death of nine other people in the same hospital.

Ms Jameson said: "I believe that the Scottish Government should listen to experts like Professor Hugh Pennington and take evidence from as many sources as possible.

"Every family in Scotland should have the right to feel confident that when someone they love goes into hospital they will be treated in clean and safe conditions."

A new chair of the public inquiry is to be appointed soon.

Lord Coulsfield stepped down because of health reasons.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "The remit of the public inquiry has not yet been set.

"This will happen when a new chairman is formally appointed, because by law the chairman must be consulted on the terms of reference of the inquiry."

Government body Health Protection Scotland conducted a "thorough investigation" into all cases of C diff in Scottish hospitals, the spokesman said, over a six-month period after the Vale of Leven Hospital outbreak.

He added: "No comparable outbreaks were identified. Validated figures on C diff deaths in 2008 are yet to be published by the General Register Office for Scotland and therefore any provisional figures should be treated with caution."