§ Mr. FrenchTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many patients are known to have contracted post-operative infections in(a) national health service hospitals and (b) private hospitals in each of the last five years; and if she will express those cases as a percentage of the total of patients treated;
(2) what estimates she has of the cost of treating people who have contracted post-operative infections in (a) national health service hospitals and (b) private hospitals.
§ Mr. SackvilleThe available information on numbers of patients contracting post-operative infections is based on hospital discharge summaries. The 1989–90 estimates show 17,600 patients in national health service hospitals diagnosed as suffering from post-operative infection. The corresponding number in 1985 was 15,540. In both years, this number represented 0.2 per cent. of patients treated in hospital, but information from research studies indicates that this is an underestimate of the total incidence. Data for the intervening years are not available and corresponding information is not held in respect of private hospitals.
Information is not held centrally about the cost of treating patients with post-operative infection.
§ Mr. FrenchTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many people are known to have died in each of the past five years due to infections contracted while in hospital;
331W(2) what measures she intends to take to reduce the number of people who contract infections during their stay in hospital;
(3) if she will list the types of infections which are most frequently contracted during a patient's stay in hospital.
§ Mr. SackvilleInformation is not held centrally on the prevalence and type of hospital-acquired infections. A study in 1980 indicated that urinary infections, wound infections, lower respiratory infections and skin infections were those most frequently acquired.
The information available on deaths relates to those known to be due to post operative infection and is given in the table.
We are very much aware of the importance of preventing hospital-acquired infection to the fullest: extent possible. In 1988 we issued to health authorities the guidance produced by the joint Department of Health/ Public Health Laboratory Service hospital infection working group. Authorities were asked to ensure that the recommended arrangements for infection control were in place in all acute hospitals. The Department is updating and expanding this advice. The guidance assists both purchasing authorities and provider units in carrying out their respective responsibilities of ensuring that the proper preventive measures are in place and of determining the quality measures to be specified in contracts. Part of the role of the newly appointed consultants in communicable disease control is to advise their health authorities on these quality measures.
Adequate surveillance is an important aspect of the control of hospital-acquired infection and guidance on methods of surveillance has recently been issued to the national health service.
The Department also welcomes the development by the professions of clinical standards in hospital infection control. The clinical standards advisory group has been undertaking preliminary work with a view to proposing further studies in this area. We are also considering a proposal for research in to the financial costs and other burdens resulting from hospital acquired infection.
Deaths from post operative infections 1England and Wales, 1987–91 Year Deaths 1987 11 1988 15 1989 12 1990 7 1991 8 1 International Classification of Diseases, 9th revision, code 998.5 source OPCS death registrations.