News
comment from the Royal
College
of Nursing (RCN), UK.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) today commented on figures released by the
Health Protection Agency (HPA) on healthcare associated infections between January
and March 2009. The figures show that while infection rates are significantly
lower than they were in the same quarter of last year, they are slightly higher
than those of the previous quarter.
Dr Peter Carter, RCN Chief Executive & General Secretary, said:
"We can see from these figures that the hard work and innovation
of healthcare staff in tackling MRSA and C.difficile is paying off in significantly
reduced infection rates. This is understandably one of the major areas of
concern for patients, and I am pleased to see that significant progress is
being made.
The leadership and innovation of nurses has been central to driving down
infection rates, and improving the quality of care for all patients. However,
these figures do show that while the general trend is a reduction in infections,
the increase last winter demonstrates that challenges remain. Everybody working
in the health service needs to fully understand why this occurs if we are
to continue to make progress.
One preventable case of MRSA or C.difficile is one too many, so more
information needs to be made available to explain why some problems are persisting
in spite of all the hard work put in by healthcare staff. Nurses need to be
given the necessary training, authority and resources to ensure that infection
rates continue to fall."
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Ltd.. Material in this news item was released by the Royal College of Nursing
(RCN) on 19 June 2009
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