The worst hospitals for superbugs have been named and shamed in new league tables drawn up by the Government.
The figures reveal a wide variation in infection rates between some of the largest and most respected hospitals in England, with patients up to ten times more likely to contract Clos tridium difficile (C. diff) in some units than in others.
The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust recorded the highest number of C. diff infections – 303 in 12 months. However, at a similar size hospital in London, the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foun dation Trust, there were only 32 cases during the same period.
A smaller hospital just five miles away from the Newcastle Trust – South Tyneside NHS – recorded only 19 cases.
The results for MRSA infection will also cause concern. Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust recorded 33 patients contracting the deadly bug, putting it at the top of the league table. It was second top of the C. diff table, with 264 cases.
But Southampton University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which treats roughly as many patients as in Leeds, reported just four MRSA cases – eight times fewer than Leeds.
Small trusts in Poole and Basing stoke recorded no cases of MRSA at all, putting the larger units to shame. Other trusts performing badly in both infection tables were University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust, Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust and Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
No hospital managed to record zero cases of C. diff.
The figures, released by the Department of Health, come days after the Government announced that all hospitals will have to publish weekly infection rates
as part of a drive to increase NHS transparency. Until now, trusts supplied monthly updates. Eventually, the Government aims to publish infection rates by each hospital ward, which would make all staff accountable.
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: ‘The NHS should aim for a zero-tolerance approach to all healthcare-associated infections. We are publishing infection data weekly so people can see which trusts are doing well and which ones are lagging behind’.
