NHS Lothian is committed to tackling HAI (healthcare associated infections).
We are determined to drive down the rates of infection to help keep our patients, visitors and staff well.
HAI are infections often caused by germs that live normally on the body and usually do no harm.
People mainly develop these infections in hospitals, but they can also be picked up in care homes, doctors’ surgeries, health centres and even at home.
There are lots of reasons why someone can develop an HAI. Being ill or receiving treatment can weaken the natural immune system. Most people won’t develop an HAI while they are being treated, but it is impossible to completely remove all the risk during healthcare. This is because every disease or condition, procedure and sometimes medication can reduce natural defences against infection.
MRSA (methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and Clostridium difficile (C. diff) are the most well known, along with Norovirus, commonly known as the “winter vomiting bug”.
MRSA, carried on the skin by around one in three people, can cause an infection if it gets into a wound, the bloodstream or lungs.
C. diff often lives naturally in the bowel of many people. For some, however, it can develop into diarrhoea and fever.
Norovirus is a virus that causes sickness and diarrhoea, which may last for a couple of days, and usually has no lasting effects.
As part of our drive to tackle infection we have developed a number of successful initiatives, including the increase and monitoring of hand hygiene education and the forthcoming introduction of a screening programme.
NHS Lothian has also made a major shift in the prescription of antibiotics on wards caring for the elderly. It comes after evidence showed that C-diff was often a proven side-effect of prolonged use of some types of the medicine. Wards in the same areas are also now being cleaned with detergent and chlorine based solutions to kill spores of the disease.
Find out more about HAI in NHS Lothian
Connections Newspaper Issue 32 (pages 10 & 11)
Infection Control Board Paper
Infection Control Reports
How to beat HAI Leaflet
Scottish Government Campaign
http://www.washyourhandsofthem.com