Health chiefs in the region are contesting newly-published figures which place Borders General Hospital as one of the 20 worst-performing Scottish hospitals when it comes to the fight against a dangerous superbug.
According to the statistics, published this week, the BGH is joint 16th in a league table of 126 Scottish hospitals, after recording 102 positive cases of clostridium difficile (c. diff.) between May 2008 and May this year. Aberdeen Royal Infirmary h
eaded the list with 438 cases of c. diff. during the period in question.
C. diff. is a bacterium that is present naturally in the gut of around three per cent of adults and 66 per cent of children. It does not cause any problem in healthy people, however, some antibiotics that are used to treat other health conditions can interfere with the balance of good bacteria in the gut. When this happens, c. diff. bacteria can multiply and cause symptoms such as diarrhoea and fever.
Because c. diff. infections usually develop as a result of treatment with antibiotics, outbreaks (clusters of infected patients) are more likely to occur in a health care environment, such as hospitals and care homes. Older people are most at risk from infection, with the majority of cases occurring in people over the age of 65.
Most people with a c. diff. infection make a full recovery.
However, in very rare cases, the infection can be fatal.
The figures were revealed by Scottish Government ministers in a written answer to Labour MSP Jackie Baillie.
Ms Baillie has been campaigning for families of victims of a c. diff. outbreak in the Vale of Leven Hospital in her Dumbarton constituency.
The figures have now triggered demands that ‘hit squads’ are sent in by the Scottish Government to turn around hospitals where patients are most exposed.
Ms Baillie said every Scottish family had the right to feel confident that when loved ones were admitted to hospital, they will be treated in safe and clean conditions.
“The Scottish Government needs to take action to identify why some health boards are failing to control infection as well as others,” she said.
However, health secretary Nicola Sturgeon has pointed out that cases in 2007-8 were 4,789, compared with 6,264 the year before – a drop of 23.5 per cent.
She also said that a chief inspector has just been appointed and inspections will begin later this year.
And in a statement to TheSouthern, NHS Borders said the figures published are actual numbers and do not show the rate of infection against the number of patients admitted to the hospitals.
The organisation told us that, in 2007/08, the rate for NHS Borders was the third lowest at 0.84 per 1,000 occupied bed days, the Scottish average is 1.29 per 1,000 occupied bed days (figures for 2008/09 not yet available).
NHS Borders said it has “rigorous control measures” in place to manage and monitor cases of clostridium difficile and other healthcare associated infections (HAIs).
