Bug outbreak 'identified quickly'

The outbreak happened at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon has said she is confident the outbreak of Clostridium difficile at a Dundee hospital was identified quickly.

It emerged on Tuesday that five elderly patients had died after contracting the bug on Ward 31 at Ninewells hospital.

In a statement to the Scottish Parliament, Ms Sturgeon said the outbreak occurred over three weeks, not the 10 weeks previously thought.

An investigation has begun to assess infection control systems in Tayside.

Ms Sturgeon told MSPs the first case of the dangerous 027 strain of c difficile at the hospital might have occurred as far back as the start of August.

However, the bug began to spread two months later and an alert was triggered when three further patients contracted it between 14 and 18 October.

The ward was then closed. The health secretary revealed she has been aware of the situation since 21 October, at which point three more patients, already on the ward, contracted the infection.

Nicola Sturgeon makes a statement to MSPs in parliament

She said another case in September was now known to be of a different strain.

Ms Sturgeon said an investigation was under way, but that the outbreak was identified and responded to quickly.

NHS Tayside have said routine monitoring picked up the outbreak early and triggered an immediate infection control operation.

Despite the claims, the Scottish Labour party has demanded to know why details of the outbreak were not made public until this week.

Latest deaths

The party's health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said there had been a "lack of transparency" regarding the outbreak.

She said: "Patients and their families have a right to know if there's an outbreak.

"Why, when cases were identified on October 14, October 17 and October 18 was someone apparently admitted to the ward on October 19, who then went on to contract C. diff and subsequently died?

"Their family claims that they were not told."

Ms Sturgeon said the case did not tally with information she had received from the health board.

The Conservatives said the latest deaths highlighted the need for urgent progress on the public inquiry into the earlier outbreak at the Vale of Leven hospital in West Dunbartonshire.

The Liberal Democrats have called for the remit of that inquiry to be extended.

A total of eight elderly people in ward 31 at Ninewells had the infection.