Reducing Healthcare Associated Infections

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Reducing healthcare associated infections in hospitals in England

Tackling healthcare associated infections in hospitals is a main priority for the National Health Service (NHS). In 2006-07 there were over 6,000 cases of MRSA and 55,000 cases of Clostridium difficile.

The National Audit Office (NAO) has published two previous reports on the subject:

The Management and Control of Hospital Acquired Infection in Acute NHS Trusts in England (February 2000) had a big impact in raising the profile of this important issue. It also highlighted the need to improve prevention, management and control.
Improving patient care by reducing the risk of hospital acquired infection (July 2004) reviewed progress against NAO and Committee of Public Accounts recommendations and found that improvements were at best patchy, and that serious challenges remained.

Healthcare associated infections continue to be an issue within many hospitals. Our latest report reviews progress made since the last NAO report.

It examines:

the extent and impact of healthcare associated infections;
the effectiveness, sustainability and cost of the Department of Health’s approach; and
the effectiveness of action taken in hospitals to prevent and control infections.

It also looks at the barriers to improvement and recommends the steps that the NHS should take to sustain and make further progress.

Full report: Reducing healthcare associated infections in hospitals in England