Cuts warning on wards as rates of C diff hit record low

Published on Wednesday 7 July 2010 15:04

RATES of the deadly hospital infection Clostridium difficile among elderly patients are at their lowest level yet in Scotland, figures show.

Information for the first three months of this year also showed MRSA rates were the second-lowest since monitoring began in 2003. But critics warned that financial cutbacks could affect the progress being made by reducing the number of cleaners on hospital wards.

This week, The Scotsman revealed concerns that Scotland was not following England by publishing hospital by hospital data for MRSA and C difficile week.

The latest figures from Health Protection Scotland showed there were 117 cases of MRSA in the first three months of the year, the same as the previous quarter, but down 31 per cent compared with the same time last year.

There were also 641 cases of C difficile in people over 65 - down 4.6 per cent on the previous quarter and 44 per cent less than the same period in 2009.

And for those aged 15 to 65, there were 194 cases of C diff - down 17 per cent on the previous quarter. Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said the figures showed measures to crack down on hospital infections were having an impact. But more could still be done to safeguard patients.

"We're not complacent.," she said. "That's why I recently announced we're increasing the C difficile target to achieve at least a 50 per cent reduction in rates for over-65s by March 2011."