The superbug that killed 49 hospital patients in nine months

Victim: Evelyn White caught the superbug in hospital
13 April 2012

The shocking scale of Britain's superbug crisis is laid bare by the revelation that 49 people died of a 'hypervirulent' infection at a single NHS trust.

Nationally, cases of the superbug Clostridium Difficile have risen by 17 per cent in the last year and it now claims almost three times as many lives as MRSA.

It emerged that in one trust alone it has claimed the lives of at least 49 people since the beginning of the year - more than one a week - and may have played a part in another 29 over the past nine months.

Critics warned that these deaths, some of which are in Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt's Leicester constituency, show how superbugs are now out of control in the NHS.

They said that a 'slavish obsession' with targets is distracting doctors from prioritising patient care and infection control may be hampered by mounting NHS debts.

Last week it emerged that health watchdogs have mounted an investigation into the deaths of six patients at the Maidstone Hospital in Kent.

The stomach bug infected 136 patients in just three months, killed six and contributed to the deaths of 14 others. Now it has emerged that the superbug is thought to have been the primary cause of 28 deaths at the University Hospitals Leicester NHS Trust this year.

It is thought to have contributed to another 21 deaths, and a further 29 suspicious cases have been referred to the coroner. At Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire, the bug was linked to the deaths of 65 patients over three years.

Evelyn White, 90, was admitted with a broken hip and fractured elbow but died six weeks later after catching the C-difficile bug.

She was one of at least 33 patients who died in two major outbreaks which affected 334 people.

A damning report in July into the deaths said hospital chiefs had put government targets ahead of protectingpatients from the disease. Staff at Leicester said the bug has mutated into a 'hypervirulent strain' and this is why it is proving harder to kill.

'This is not just a hospital issue'

The hospitals have blamed the problem in part on resistance developing to antibiotics once used to defeat it.

However, the hospitals also have high bed occupancy rates and are currently trying to make savings of £22million.

Dr David Jenkins, director of infection prevention and control at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, said it had set up a task force of consultants, doctors, nurses and infection control specialists to fight the new infection. "This is not just a hospital issue," he said.

"Our research and that of other trusts around the country suggest that at least one in five cases occur in the community.

"We treat over one million people a year meaning that Leicester is one of the biggest hospital trusts in the country. So it is important that local people understand that although the number of cases of C-difficile appears high, the risk is actually very low.

"However, the fact that the chances are slim does not diminish the problem. We take it very seriously."

Steve Webb, Liberal Democrat health spokesman, said: "All too often the target of cutting down on infections comes into conflict with dozens of other targets hospital staff have to meet.

"The Government's slavish obsession with targets is distracting doctors and nurses from concentrating on patient care."

Michael Summers, chairman of the Patients' Association, warned that poor hygiene, high bed occupancy rates and a lack of priority given to infection control were all helping fuel cases of the bug in UK hospitals - and NHS debts were making things worse.

"Hospitals that are looking to save money tend to cut back on staff and hygiene and these are the sort of things that cause these problems to escalate," he warned.

"Many hospitals that have difficulties with deficits tend to cut back on staff and do not have cleaners on hand day and night. C-difficile is a major problem and we are very concerned about it."

A Department of Health spokesman said the Government had introduced mandatory surveillance of C-difficile, issued guidance to the NHS and would start publishing quarterly data on infection rates shortly.

"Not all infections are avoidable but we are determined that the NHS does everything possible to prevent the ones that are and we will not hesitate to use the tough new powers in the Health Act if necessary," she said.

• One in ten households in Britain has a secret supply of antibiotics that they use without medical advice, raising the risk of drug-resistant superbugs spreading.

"This is a sizeable problem and we're talking large numbers," Dr Cliodna McNulty, of the Health Protection Agency, told the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.

"There is evidence that people who use antibiotics more often are more likely to develop resistance. Those who use leftover drugs repeatedly are at greater risk of colonisation and infection with drug-resistant organisms."

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