Sunday 14 Jul 2013 @ 09:05
Welsh Government
Welsh Government
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New data on healthcare associated infections published
Information on the numbers and rates of healthcare associated infections in each hospital will be published on NHS organisations’ websites.
The move is part of a commitment by the Welsh Government and NHS Wales to provide more transparent data on patient safety to give the public better information on the quality of care and drive up standards across the NHS.
Updated information will be published every month.
The data published today shows that, overall, all health boards (with acute hospitals in Wales) have made significant progress in the fight against C.difficile and have achieved at least a 50% reduction since 2008/2009. The overall trend for rates of MRSA infection is also downward, but there has been a slight rise in rates of MSSA.
Health Minister Mark Drakeford said:
“The highest number of cases of C.difficile occurred in 2008. Since then, as a result of a concerted effort to reduce cases of the infection there has been a 63% reduction in numbers of cases. Rates of MRSA are also decreasing overall, but we are now seeing something of a plateau in our achievements.
“I believe publishing rates of infection by hospital is an important part of our ‘zero tolerance’ approach to preventable HCAIs.
“We’ve made a clear commitment to publish more information about the quality of care.
“Not only will this give better information to the public, but it will also help drive up standards across all NHS organisations.
“We already collect this information and share it internally, which has led to an overall trend of declining rates of infection, but in being more transparent we believe we can build on this further. The public needs to have confidence that hospitals are taking all steps to keep them safe when care is provided.”
The data will be provided in an agreed format for consistency across Wales comprising number and rates of cases – per 100,000 population and per 1,000 hospital admissions – and details of what each organisation is doing to tackle infections.
The publication of data on healthcare infections follows the publication of hospital mortality data earlier this year.
