Clostridium difficile Support

[chrismc]

http://icwirral.icnetwork.co.uk/news/regional/tm_headline=shock-rise-in-superbug%26method=full%26objectid=20071046%26siteid=80898-name_page.html

If more of us contacted our local papers, the word would spread and wemight just plant a seed that will flower.
Christine X

Shock rise in superbug
Nov 7 2007
by Matt Hurst, Birkenhead News

THE number of cases at Arrowe Park from hospital superbug clostridium difficile has risen by more than 70 per cent over the last year.

The most recent figures, published by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) at the beginning of this month, reveal that between April and June 2007 133 people aged over 65 contracted c-diff at the hospital.

This compares starkly with the figures for exactly the same period last year, April to June 2006, when 78 people aged over 65 suffered from the illness – an increase of 55.

The numbers dump Arrowe Park Hospital in the top 10 out of more than 170 trusts nationwide for year-on-year rises in confirmed cases of the bacterial disease.

Housewife Nadia Boardman, the mother of four children, is still angry after her father, a Wallasey shopkeeper, contracted c-diff following admission last year to Arrowe Park with a chest infection. He died aged 69 in June 2006.


Wirral News
Wirral News Group Wirral News Article


Shock rise in superbug

Nov 7 2007

by Matt Hurst, Birkenhead News


THE number of cases at Arrowe Park from hospital superbug clostridium difficile has risen by more than 70 per cent over the last year.

The most recent figures, published by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) at the beginning of this month, reveal that between April and June 2007 133 people aged over 65 contracted c-diff at the hospital.

This compares starkly with the figures for exactly the same period last year, April to June 2006, when 78 people aged over 65 suffered from the illness – an increase of 55.

The numbers dump Arrowe Park Hospital in the top 10 out of more than 170 trusts nationwide for year-on-year rises in confirmed cases of the bacterial disease.

Housewife Nadia Boardman, the mother of four children, is still angry after her father, a Wallasey shopkeeper, contracted c-diff following admission last year to Arrowe Park with a chest infection. He died aged 69 in June 2006.

Nadia told the News: “It’s extremely disappointing.

“You get the apologies and everything else but it seems a bit hollow when you see these figures going up and up.

“What are they doing? Why can’t they do the same performance as other hospitals in the country, like Homerton, which reduced its figures by 79%?”

“I just find it appalling.”

C-diff infection is usually spread on the hands of healthcare staff and other people who come into contact with infected patients or with environmental surfaces, and can lead to severe diarrhoea and inflammation of the bowel.

Nadia described how the disease ravaged her father, she said: “It’s terrible, you lose a tremendous amount of weight.

“My father looked as though he had spent six months in a concentration camp, just over a matter of weeks.”

Dr John Cunniffe, acting director of infection prevention and control at Arrowe Park, says the trust is currently finalising an action plan to reduce the number of cases at the hospital.

He said: “Like many large acute trusts around the country, we recorded more cases of clostridium difficile between April and June 2007, compared to the same period last year.

“We recognize this is an important issue for patients and further work is required to improve our performance with regards to c-diff, and remain committed to building on our performance in this area.”
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The very first requirement in a hospital is that it should do the sick no harm - Florence Nightingale

[Catherine M]

Well done Nadia.

[Nadia]

Dr John Cunniffe, acting director of infection prevention and control at Arrowe Park, says the trust is currently finalising an action plan to reduce the number of cases at the hospital. .

“We recognize this is an important issue for patients and further work is required to improve our performance with regards to c-diff, and remain committed to building on our performance in this area.”

Obviously the 'further work' is not working judging by this:

http://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/news/8258209.Wirral_heads_superbug_infection_league_table/

Regards
Nadia

[graziella]

Well done Nadia.

They can't be let to get away with this without being named and shamed.

[chrismc]

Crikey, I seem to have upset someone with my comment on the article.
Christine X
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The very first requirement in a hospital is that it should do the sick no harm - Florence Nightingale