9:00am Saturday 5th September 2009
By David Watkinson
AN ISOLATION ward has been set up at the Royal Blackburn Hospital after a suspected outbreak of superbug C.Difficile.
Some 20 people, including a seriously ill man, are believed to have been infected and treated in a special ‘cohort ward’ away from other patients, hospital chiefs said.
Ward C3, which is normally for general patients, has been cleared and everyone suspected to have C.Diff has been switched to the ward.
The move by hospitals bosses came after four cases of C.Diff were discovered in Royal Blackburn Hospital on Wednesday.
Because they were all discovered on the same day, an isolation unit was set up and all the other patients with the superbug were moved.
The majority have since been moved back to normal wards and the cohort ward is now treating five people.
One critic said he was “astonished” by the outbreak but health watchdog Roy Davies said creating an isolation unit was the most sensible thing to do.
Coun Davies, chairman of Blackburn with Darwen Council’s health overview and scrutiny committee, said: “I am not happy about this at all but I would rather see something being done about it than nothing at all.
“Isolation is best thing to do for the patients and for the staff.”
Coun Davies said infection rates of MRSA and C.Diff at East Lancashire’s hospitals were a problem.
In the past three months, 71 cases of C.Diff were reported against a yearly maximum of 175 and deep cleaning exercises have recently been undertaken in two wards.
The problem of tackling the rise in cases will be inherited by incoming chief executive Diane Whittingham, the part-time replacement for Marie Burnham who has been seconded for a year-long role co-ordinating the North West’s NHS swine flu response.
Coun Davies said: “I do not believe we are any better or any worse than other hospitals.
“We have got a new chief executive starting and she may well come in with ideas of how to tackle it.”
However, Burnley Council leader and hospitals campaigner Gordon Birtwistle said: “I am astonished the hospital has had to set up an isolation ward. We are in 2009 and this should not occur.
“If the staff had more time to look after patients and pay attention to cleanliness, then this would not happen.
“These infections are down to the way the hospital is being run.”
East Lancashire Hospitals Trust, which runs Royal Blackburn Hospital, said swift action had been taken to minimise the spread of the superbug.
The cohort ward was opened as a “precautionary” measure to help contain the illness after C.Diff cases were identified on Wednesday, it said.
Since Thursday, no further cases have been confirmed.
Dr Sajjad Mirza, the trust’s deputy director of infection prevention and control, said: “The cases are against a backdrop of slightly increased incidence of C.Diff across the trust, which has been the case for some months.
“At this point we are being cautious and proactive. Opening a cohort ward allows us to ensure that the patients with C.Diff receive good continuity of care, and also to guard further against the possible spread of spores across the hospitals.”
There was “no cause for alarm” about C.Diff rates, he added.
Last month, health chiefs admitted infection rates for MRSA and C.Diff were a “concern” after successes in tackling the two superbugs in the past two years.
And earlier this week, former Burnley MP Peter Pike and ex-NHS boss Ian Woolley demanded an independent inquiry into the standard of hospital care in East Lancashire.
It follows the closure of Burnley’s A&E department in 2007, trust financial problems and the decision in July to scrap a bid to break free from Government control.
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