09.02.11
Healthcare Commission issues first ever improvement notice over infection control
Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust put on notice in first round of 120 hygiene code inspections
The Healthcare Commission has issued Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust with an improvement notice, ordering immediate changes to its infection control practices.
The trust is the first to be issued with an improvement notice for breaches of the hygiene code. The code outlines compulsory duties to prevent and manage healthcare associated infections such as MRSA and c lostridium difficile.
The Commission made an unannounced visit to Chase Farm Hospital, part of Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust, on June 7th.
The trust has now been given deadlines to address specific issues raised by the Commission. The strategic health authority will oversee this work.
To date, Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust is the only trust to be issued with an improvement notice. This was because the problems were deemed to be wide-ranging and serious.
Anna Walker, chief executive of the Healthcare Commission, said: "I hope this sends out a strong message to all trusts that we will not hesitate to use our powers when it comes to enforcing the hygiene code.
"We are not looking to catch people out. What we want is these infection control processes in place on behalf of patients. Trusts know that our assessment managers are coming. They should check to see they have their house in order.
“This is about giving reassurance to patients and the public that everything is being done to minimise the risks of healthcare-associated infection.”
A spokesperson for the trust said: “We have a robust action plan to meet the outstanding requirements in the improvement notice and will accelerate this to ensure we meet the deadlines advised by the Commission.
The trust has continued to introduce new initiatives to reduce the level of these infections, which include;
all affected patients at Barnet and Chase Farm are now treated on specialist isolation wards under the care of a team of dedicated medical, nursing and domestic staff who have received specific training.
a strategy to improve antibiotic prescribing has been set in place across the whole trust.
increased levels of environmental cleaning are in place and we are currently implementing a rolling plan of deep cleaning in all clinical areas. A specialist cleaning fluid is used to clean all clinical areas to reduce environmental contamination. In April, we introduced a c.difficile cleaning hit squad to deep clean all beds and cubicles.
Hand hygiene with the implementation of the cleanyourhands and our take 5 campaigns are well established across the Trust.”
Richard Harrison, medical director said: “Patients and their families can be reassured that we are taking every step possible to minimise the risk of them acquiring an infection when treated in one of our hospitals.
Our issues around infection control follow the national picture, but with the extra £500k investment in cleaning the wards, screening patients before admission and our prudent antibiotic policy, the Trust is winning the battle against hospital-acquired infections. The Trust reported 74 new case of c.difficle in April and only 16 cases in June.
I'm confident that by continuing with our current action plan, additional investment and clear commitment from the Trust we will continue to see a reduction of new cases and deliver a service patients can have confidence in.
According to latest figures from the Health Protection Agency, there were 584 reports of c.difficile in patients aged over 65 at the trust, from January to September 2006. From April to September 2006, there were 29 reported cases of MRSA at the trust.
Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust was rated as weak in both quality of services and use of resources in the 2005/06 annual health check carried out by the Healthcare Commission.
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