Inquiry call after 18 die from C diff in one year at hospital

Published on Wednesday 29 July 2009 19:46

HEALTH secretary Nicola Sturgeon has been urged to act after it emerged that 18 people died in a hospital inside a year from the Clostridium difficile bug.

The deaths in Glasgow's Gartnavel Hospital occurred in 2008 – a further ten people there died from C difficile the year before.

The health board area includes Vale of Leven Hospital, where nine people died from the bug during a six-month outbreak last year – prompting Ms Sturgeon to order an inquiry.

Labour health spokeswoman Cathy Jamieson said yesterday: "The news that 28 people have died of C diff in Gartnavel is deeply concerning.

"People expect the highest standards of care in hospital and infection-control procedures should be as tight as possible."

Ms Sturgeon was called on to look again at a 15-point plan that was drawn up by Labour and infectious disease expert Hugh Pennington.

Ms Jamieson added: "She needs to get a grip on HAI's (hospital-acquired infections) and get on with sorting out infection-control procedures."

As well as the C diff deaths in Gartnavel last year, the bug was a contributory factor in six other deaths in the hospital.

Ms Sturgeon said yesterday that any death from infections picked up in hospital was a "tragedy". But she added: "It's wrong to compare these provisional figures for Gartnavel over the course of a year with the Vale of Leven, where a large number of deaths were linked to a single outbreak.

"I'm fully aware of the scale of the challenge, and for that reason I've made tackling HAIs my top priority."

She added that rates of C difficile were down 38 per cent on the same period last year and at their lowest level since the beginning of 2006.

Health boards are also now required to submit bi-monthly reports on MRSA and C difficile infections.