'Action needed' to tackle C.diff

C.difficile can cause severe diarrhoea and inflammation of the bowel

"Urgent action" should be taken to tackle the Clostridium difficile infection in Scottish hospitals, the Labour Party has said.

Dumbarton MSP Jackie Baillie called for the introduction of an independent inspection regime following an outbreak at Paisley's Royal Alexandra Hospital.

The infection was a contributory factor in the death of one patient. Another later died from an unrelated condition.

The Scottish Government said inspection procedures were already in place.

Eight cases of C.difficile were found in one ward at the Royal Alexandra within a four-week period.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde confirmed that the infection was a contributory factor - but not the main cause - in the death of a patient.

A second patient with the bug also died, but the health board said C.diff was not a factor in their death.

The new method of assessment that NHS boards will now be required to follow is in the process of development Nicola Sturgeon Health Secretary

The outbreak at the hospital in Paisley came after 55 people were affected at the Vale of Leven Hospital in Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire, between December last year and June this year.

The infection was the primary cause of death in nine patients there, and was also a contributory factor in another nine deaths.

A report last month described infection control facilities at the Vale of Leven as "inadequate".

Ms Baillie said: "Our thoughts are with the families of the two patients who died in the Royal Alexandra.

"These latest cases show urgent action is needed to rid wards of C.diff."

She said the Scottish Government had shown "consistent complacency over C.diff" and described self-assessment by hospitals and health boards as "woefully inadequate".

"An independent monitoring and inspection framework must be established, so that we never again witness death on the scale that occurred at the Vale of Leven Hospital," she said.

'Learn lessons'

The MSP also made a fresh call for a public inquiry into the deaths at the Vale of Leven "so that every hospital in Scotland can learn lessons from what happened".

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said initial inspections were already under way but that new assessment procedures were still being developed.

"Following the independent reviews into the C.difficile outbreak at the Vale of Leven Hospital, all chief executives have been asked to undertake a local self assessment against new NHS Quality Improvement Standards requirements, and report outcomes back to the Scottish Government by the turn of the year," she said.

She said every health board would be assessed against these revised standards next year.

"The new method of assessment that NHS boards will now be required to follow is in the process of development," she added.

"But the underpinning requirement will be that this assessment must be independent, robust and transparent to all."