Death linked to C.diff outbreak

The outbreak at the Vale of Leven hospital is to be investigated

Another patient has died at a hospital in Dunbartonshire affected by an outbreak of Clostridium difficile.

More than 50 people have been infected with C.diff at the Vale of Leven Hospital in the past six months.

Nine patients have died as a direct result of the infection and C.diff was a "contributory factor" in the deaths of a further nine patients.

These include the latest patient to die, who had been seriously ill with an unrelated condition.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said the patient had been one of four still receiving treatment for C.diff at the hospital.

Independent review

One has since been discharged while the other two are in a stable condition at the hospital, the health board said. Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon announced an independent review into the outbreak in parliament last week.

She said the reports she had received from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde raised "serious cause for concern".

She told MSPs these suggested the surveillance system in place at the hospital was "inadequate" and did not alert health boards to the number and pattern of cases.

Additional cleaning and strict infection control measures have been implemented, the health board said.

Dr Syed Ahmed, chairman of the outbreak control team, said there were no links between the situation at the Vale of Leven hospital and four current cases of C.diff at Glasgow's Victoria Infirmary.

A ward at the infirmary remains closed to new admissions after four patients tested positive for the bug.