Code of practice on HCAI prevention

Healthcare-associated infections still affect many patients who attend our hospitals for care and treatment. The last published assessment, from 2011, is that 300,000 patients acquire an infection as a result of care in the NHS, which indicates a rate of 6.4%. The most common types of healthcare-associated infection are respiratory infections, including pneumonia and infections of the lower respiratory tract at 22.8%, urinary tract infections at 17.2% and surgical site infections at 15.7%.¹ Each one of these infections means additional use of NHS resources, greater patient discomfort and a decrease in patient safety.²

In 2007, methicillin-resistant Staphyloccus aureus bloodstream infections and Clostridium difficile were recorded as the underlying cause of, or a contributory factor in, approximately 9,000 deaths in hospital and primary care in England.³ Since 2006, there has been an 18 fold reduction in MRSA bloodstream infections from 1.3% to less than 0.1% and a fivefold reduction in C. Difficile from 2% to 0.4%. This is a good news story for healthcare. However, we now have the spectre of antimicrobial resistance developing swiftly, and the inexorable rise of Enterobacteriaceae causing infectious harm to our patients. The presence of this microorganism increased in surgical site infections from 2008/9 and accounted for 26% of cases by 2013/14.⁴

Guidance for practice