Hospital infections in decline due to safety programme - Sturgeon

Published on Wednesday 9 September 2009 11:51

A DRIVE to improve hospital standards is cutting infection rates, the Scottish Government said today.

The Patient Safety Programme has also led to shorter stays in intensive care for patients in some hospitals.

The improvements were highlighted when Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon visited Stirling Royal Infirmary, one of the hospitals taking part.

Launched five months ago and set to run for five years, the programme aims to reduce hospital mortality by 15% and "adverse incidents" by 30%.

Measures include evaluating processes staff need to go through to prevent infection to ensure these are carried out all the time, and regular discussion between everyone involved in caring for a patient – daily goals are now set for patient care.

The strategy has reduced ventilator-acquired pneumonia and the length of time patients stay in intensive care, according to the Government.

And NHS Forth Valley has not had a patient with a central-line infection – a tube used to deliver drugs and food – since January 2008.

Daily safety briefings now take place at 52 pilot wards across Scotland.

Ms Sturgeon said: "The Scottish Patient Safety Programme is achieving great results in driving up standards across our hospitals.

"It's not about new-fangled ideas, employing more staff or buying more equipment but about enabling staff to ensure that every single process they need to carry out to care for a patient is carried out every single time."

Liberal Democrat health spokesamn Ross Finnie said: "While it's encouraging that small changes like regular hand washing, have reduced hospital infections, major changes are also necessary to avoid more fatal outbreaks.

"That's why it's so important that the public inquiry into the fatal C diff outbreak at the Vale of Leven hospital also considers similar incidents across the country."