Previously, data was only published monthly, by NHS Trusts. Infection figures for every NHS hospital in England will now be updated on data.gov.uk, on a weekly basis, giving statistics for each of the previous 12 weeks.
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: “This is an important step towards our broader plans to provide more relevant information to patients. It will enable people to make meaningful choices because they will be able to make comparisons between different hospitals and healthcare organisations. We want to make the large amounts of data that are already collected and used internally in the NHS work for patients, not just managers. All information that is useful and relevant to patients should be published in an accessible and open way.”
The Department of Health will also explore how to go even further, for example by providing data on other infections and by looking at whether information could be published at department or ward level, while respecting the confidentiality of individual patients.
Commenting on the move, Tracey Cooper, vice president of the Infection Prevention Society, said: “It will be important that Trusts devote sufficient resources to ensure that meaningful information is available without any additional burden being placed on infection prevention and control staff. Infections sometimes take time to confirm via laboratory testing. Therefore it is essential that everyone understands that data reported weekly will be subject to change. Additional confirmatory testing results are sometimes required, and may lead to amendments of data posted in previous weeks.
“If this information is to be easily understood and provide reassurance for the public, it is crucial that clear explanatory information is available to support the data, so that both staff and the public are able to understand the information and be aware of the limitations of data which is reported weekly.”
The weekly data will be published online at www.data.gov.uk
Weekly data for March to May 2010 can also be found on the HPA website. www.hpa.org.uk