| Professor Hugh Pennington, emeritus professor in bacteriology at Aberdeen University, suggested at the weekend patients should think about whether to go ahead with routine surgical procedures while the C Diff threat remained.
“If someone is going into hospital to have something done that can be put off for a year or two, I think they should think about that,” he said.
Prof Pennington’s warning came as figures showed 13 people died at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee last year after contracting clostridium difficile — the highest number in Scotland.
In total, there were 20 C Diff deaths in Tayside hospitals during 2008 and a further 37 deaths were recorded in which the superbug was identified as a contributory factor.
In Scotland as a whole, 765 people died in 2008 with C Diff, either as the main cause or a contributory factor to their demise.
However, NHS Tayside’s medical director Dr Andrew Russell said today patients should heed the advice of their doctors over surgical procedures — no matter how serious.
He told the Tele stringent infection control measures had led to a drop in C Diff cases since the turn of the year.
“Doctors and consultants think carefully before recommending any surgery and always ensure it is in the best interest of patients. Therefore we would strongly urge patients not to delay any treatment,” he said.
“We know the public need to have the utmost confidence in the care and treatment they receive when they come into any of our hospitals.
“That is why our infection control teams and the staff on our wards work so hard on a whole range of measures which we believe are making a difference to our patients.
“In fact, since January last year we have seen a downward trend in the numbers of cases of C difficile and we are confident that trend will continue.”
FIFE
NHS Fife has moved to reassure patients there is no need for alarm in the wake of Professor Pennington’s warning.
A spokesperson said, “Last month Health Protection Scotland published data for the first three months of 2009 which showed that NHS Fife had the lowest C difficile infection rate of any mainland board and the lowest rate for Fife since recording began.
“C difficile rates have fallen continuously in Fife for over 12 months due to the concerted efforts by all staff to limit antibiotic use (a key trigger for C difficile Infections) and by employing effective infection control precautions to prevent spread from any patient who is infected.
“Patients can be confident that NHS Fife staff are working hard to address C difficile infection rates and that this work is having a direct impact on our performance in minimising incidences.” |
