| Deputy chief executive Gerry Marr has also promised that staff will be alert to ensure patients possibly infected with clostridium difficile are not admitted to general wards.
The health board’s action follows a complaint from patient Esther Davidson that her “local butcher had a more effective hygiene regime in place” than the hospital.
Mrs Davidson was admitted to a general ward at Ninewells with stomach pains, having caught the bug in an Edinburgh hospital. The infection had not been diagnosed when she was admitted, but recent abdominal surgery and the antibiotic used to treat her made C.diff a possibility and she should initially have been isolated.
Mrs Davidson also raised other issues, including a claim that doctors and nurses in ward 10 used only alcohol gel to wash their hands between seeing patients — a procedure ineffective against C.diff. She was also unhappy with the general condition of toilets and showers.
And the patient said she was “incensed” after reading what she described as “complacent remarks” by senior Tayside health professionals in the wake of an official report last week that C.diff killed 13 people at Ninewells last year.
Yesterday, public health minister Shona Robison said she had spoken to Mr Marr about Mrs Davidson’s case and had been given several assurances.
An infection control team will be sent into ward 10 to investigate Mrs Davidson’s concerns over inadequate hand-washing. The results will go into a case review that should be in Mr Marr’s hands in two weeks and to which Ms Robison will have access.
The minister said that, despite Mrs Davidson’s concerns, there were grounds for “cautious optimism” that the country was slowly getting to grips with hospital-acquired infection.
“From January to March this year there were 97 C.diff infections in Tayside against 139 for the same period in 2008. That’s a reduction of 30%,” she said. “Nationally, figures for the last quarter of 2008 showed that whilst 42 people died from C.diff infection, 75 died from the infection in the first quarter of last year.
“We think all the things we are doing are beginning to show promise. It may be a constant battle but we believe there are some signs that things are beginning to go in the right direction, but I wouldn’t want to overstate that.
“In terms of the underlying picture, hospital- acquired infection and C.diff in particular is a top priority. I can certainly say after my conversation with Gerry Marr that he is making this his utmost priority.
“He is very frustrated that the admission protocol was not followed and he assured me he will be taking robust action.” |
