St Marys Hospital.
THE number of cases of superbug C. Difficile at St Mary’s Hospital rocketed over the summer.
The Island’s health trust has consistently met targets for keeping C. Diff in check but 12 cases have been identified at the hospital since April. And a total of 18 cases have been identified across the trust as a whole during the same period.
Two cases of MRSA have also been identified so far this year.
The target for the hospital is to have eight cases or fewer and for the trust as a whole, the limit is 13 cases.
Carol Alstrom, the trust’s chief nurse and director of infection prevention and control, said she was disappointed the trust had failed to meet targets but said action had been taken to address the problem.
She said five of the C. Diff cases during the summer had been traced back to Appley Ward, where a number of shortcomings were found relating to clinical practice standards — including items such as hand wipes for patient use, stored in the same place as bedpans and commodes.
These shortcomings were immediately rectified and, as a result, no further cases had been linked to the same ward, said Mrs Alstrom.
"You also have to look at the context of this increase. In 2007, for example, there were 57 cases of C. Diff between April and August. We are in a massively different place now," she added.
"And compared to other hospitals in the country we are doing extremely well."
Reporter: emilyp@iwcpmail.co.uk