This article is from page 15 of the 2008-04-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 15 JPG
OVERCROW DING and hygiene is- sues were highlighted as the main cause of the outbreak of the super bug C-diff at Ennis General Hospi- tal last year, which led to 46 people contacting the highly contagious dis- Creston
According to the “Review of In- creased Identification of Clostridium difficile at Ennis General Hospital 2007” the female medical ward was identified as an area of particular concern.
The bedpan washer leaked, broke down and required maintenance callouts during the early part of 2007, and at times bedpans were hand washed. This problem was not KON UECerOMENNLBD ERLE Elon
Occupancy levels on the Female Medical Ward ranged from a high of 105.9 per cent in February to a low of 99 per cent in May.
“There has been ongoing concerns re hygiene levels at the hospital,’ said the report.
While admitting that infection con- trol nurses raised ongoing concerns about the level of background C diff in the hospital, the report said ad- herence to many of these had been patchy with practical difficulties in implementing appropriate patient isolation, adherence to antibiotic prescription guidelines and poor at- tendance by support staff at infection control training sessions.
There was no hospital Infection Prevention and Control Committee in place from September 2006, and
although one was set up in December 2007 it still does not have input from a consultant medical microbiologist or an infectious disease consultant.
While there was some awareness of an increased level of C diff in the hospital in early 2007, the extent of the problem was not appreciated 1in1- tially by either management or clini- cal staff at the hospital, many of who considered MRSA or Norovirus a bigger threat.
The report stated that the absence of the Director of Nursing on special assignment from March until Oc- tober, the absence on sick leave of the Female Medical Ward Manager April 2006 to April 2007 and the ab- sence on annual leave of the Infec- tion Control Nurse from April 9 to April 23 may have contributed to the delay in taking definitive action in relation to the increase in cases. The situation was not declared as an out- break and an Outbreak Control Team was not convened.
“A range of actions were taken which are likely to have contribut- ed to curtailing the level of C. dif- ficile in the hospital,” according to the report. “These included: raising awareness with consultant and nurs- ing staff verbally and in writing, ad- ditional intensive cleaning, improved hand hygiene facilities, increased ed- ucation and training on hand hygiene and infection control, renewed focus on appropriate antibiotic prescribing. Disposable curtains were introduced in one area of the hospital and their use extended subsequently to other areas of the hospital.”