Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust Makes Progress On Infection Control, UK

Main Category: MRSA / Drug Resistance
Article Date: 15 Apr 2008 - 5:00 PDT

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The Healthcare Commission announced that Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust has made the necessary improvements in infection control.

It said the trust is now compliant with the requirements of an improvement notice, issued on 21 February 2008, which required immediate changes to infection control practices.

The Commission has also made a number of recommendations to help ensure that the trust continues the work it has started. The strategic health authority, NHS East of England has been asked to oversee this work.

The Commission made an unannounced visit to the Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust on 4 February 2008 and also made subsequent requests for documentation of policies and procedures on infection control.

It found breaches of duty four of the hygiene code. This covers arrangements for clean and appropriate premises and decontamination of surgical equipment.

The hygiene code outlines compulsory duties to prevent and manage healthcare-associated infections such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile. All NHS trusts should be compliant with these duties.

The issuing of an improvement notice is a legal power given to the Commission by government in October 2006. Notices are issued only when breaches of the hygiene code are serious.

The Commission conducted a follow up visit to Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust on 7 March 2008 to assess the trust's compliance with these four duties. It found that the trust has:

- Decommissioned the bench top sterilisers and increased supplies of reusable surgical instruments and single use items.

- Completed a thorough risk assessment of all onsite reprocessing and completed appropriate action plans to manage the risks.

- Commenced an internal investigation to ensure that lessons are learned to improve their systems and processes, particularly in relation to risk management.

In lifting the improvement notice the Commission made a number of recommendations which include the following:

- The endoscopy audit tool must be revised to reflect all potential risk issues.

- The standard operating procedures must be revised to detail which staff they apply to.

- Risk assessment processes must include clear and timely escalation of issues so that appropriate control measures can be put in place.

Dr Andrea Gordon, Acting Head of Central Region, said: "I am pleased that the trust has taken action to ensure that it is now compliant with the improvement notice.

"This is about giving reassurance to patients and the public that everything is being done to minimise the risks of healthcare-associated infection. We are pleased with the way the trust has responded to the issues we have raised.

"Following advice from the Commission, the trust immediately stopped using three of the sterilisers concerned and had stopped using the fourth by the end of March this year.

"It is important that the trust continues its progress and implements the recommendations we have made following our most recent visit. We are assured that the strategic health authority will see that this happens."

The visits to the trust were part of the Commission's biggest ever programme of inspections relating to healthcare-associated infection. From April 2008, every NHS trust will be inspected on infection control.

Hygiene code inspection report: Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust (pdf 86kb)

More information on the hygiene code

Notes

1) *Benchtop sterilisers are are small portable sterilisers on work benches used to deontaminate surgical instruments.

The trust runs the Ipswich Hospital, one of the largest general hospitals in East Anglia, providing services to almost 500,000 people.

The Ipswich Hospitals NHS Trust was the third improvement notice to be issued. The first was to Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust in July 2007 and the second to Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust in January 2008.

Ipswich Hospitals NHS Trust was rated as "fair" for quality of services and "weak" for use of resources in the 2006/07 annual health check carried out by the Healthcare Commission.

Information on the Healthcare Commission

The Healthcare Commission is the health watchdog in England. It keeps check on health services to ensure that they are meeting standards in a range of areas. The Commission also promotes improvements in the quality of healthcare and public health in England through independent, authoritative, patient-centred assessments of those who provide services.

Responsibility for inspection and investigation of NHS bodies and the independent sector in Wales rests with Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW). The Healthcare Commission has certain statutory functions in Wales which include producing an annual report on the state of healthcare in England and Wales, national improvement reviews in England and Wales, and working with HIW to ensure that relevant cross-border issues are managed effectively.

The Healthcare Commission does not cover Scotland as it has its own body, NHS Quality Improvement Scotland. The Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) undertakes regular reviews of the quality of services in Northern Ireland.

Healthcare Commission