Wye Valley NHS Trust is celebrating its 2,000th day without a case of health-care associated MRSA bacteraemia (blood stream) infections in its hospitals.
The Trust says the landmark tallies with its “zero tolerance approach” to healthcare-associated infections.
“Infection control is one of the Trust’s top priorities,” said Sarah Hardy, the Trust’s lead infection prevention nurse.
“Reducing MRSA bacteraemia is a national target across the NHS and this Trust has led the way for several years.
“There are many reasons for this good record - we have a strict cleaning, hygiene and hand-washing regimes, a robust antibiotic prescribing policy and ongoing screening of all people that we admit to hospital.
“We have a dedicated team of medical and clinical staff who understand the importance of infection control and it’s very much down to their vigilance and determination that we have reached this major milestone,” added Sarah.
“This outstanding achievement is due to the tenacity and determination of our staff to provide first class patient care.”
The Trust – which reached the 2,000-day milestone today, Thursday, August 16 - frequently runs awareness campaigns linked to infection control to raise awareness of the importance of effective hand hygiene among its staff, patients and their relatives and visitors to the Trust’s hospitals.
“Our staff members continue to play a vital role in reducing hospital-acquired infections and are encouraged to challenge each other if they feel proper infection control processes are not being followed.
“This is a great achievement, but the challenge remains and we’re not resting on our laurels. We will continue to be vigilant and on our guard to keep heathcare associated infections at bay here at the Trust,” added Sarah.