Hospital's zero tolerance to bugs

95% of patients admitted for routine operations are screened for MRSA

A Devon hospital is introducing a series of new measures to reduce cases of hospital bugs.

Plymouth's Derriford Hospital already has one of the lowest rates of Clostridium Difficile.

But the hospital says it is adopting what it is calling a zero tolerance approach to cut infections still further.

All MRSA infections and serious cases of C Difficile will now be reviewed by the chief executive and his team.

Increased screening

Infection rates at Plymouth Hospitals Trust have been cut over the last five years.

The number of MRSA cases has fallen to 50 in 2007/8 - a fall from 98 cases in 2003/4.

The trust says it is bucking the trend nationally by reducing C Difficile cases - 187 in a year - to among the lowest in the country.

Director of infection control and prevention Dr Peter Jenks said: "We are adopting a zero tolerance approach to any preventable infection.

"We have a duty to do everything we can to prevent infections and the public have a right to know exactly what steps we are taking and how effective these are."

Ninety-five per cent of patients admitted to Derriford for routine operations are already screened for MRSA.

The trust aims to test all planned patients by the end of the year, and eventually all emergency patients too.