About HCA

• Clean, safe
• MRSA
• C. Difficile

Hand hygiene

This is the most important aspect of infection control. All members of staff including medical staff are required to follow good hand hygiene practice - which includes washing their hands with soap and water or the use of antiseptic hand gel - and we run a campaign of regular reminders and training sessions.

You can help. Anyone can carry germs on their hands, so we encourage you and your visitors to wash your hands too or use the hand gel provided. Hand gel is available in all clinical areas, but please feel free to ask our staff members if they have cleaned their hands when they enter the rooms.

Designed to be clean

All of our hospitals have been designed to reduce the risk of infection spreading from one patient to the next. We continually adapt and improve our hospitals with the latest features to enhance good infection control practice, such as sensor taps and wet rooms.

Cleaning policy

All rooms are meticulously cleaned before patients arrive. Our stringent cleaning policies include colour coded cleaning materials and appropriate training for all cleaning staff.

Screening patients for MRSA

All patients are routinely screened for MRSA (Meticillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus) either before or immediately on admission. This enables us to quickly treat and isolate any positive patients. Our MRSA infection rates are six times lower than the average for other London hospitals.

Codes of practice to reduce infection

Across our hospitals we have put in place methods of working and best practice for all our staff to follow. This is based on the "Code of Practice for Prevention and Control of Healthcare Associated Infections" defined by the Health Act 2006.

Results externally audited

We collect and record our infection data and submit this to external agencies, such as the Health Protection Agency. This means that we are measured in exactly the same way as all other NHS hospitals as well as other private hospitals that choose to submit data.

In addition, each and every physical space in all our hospitals is quality inspected using the latest technology, the e-QIT (www.e-qit.co.uk).Medically-led infection control inspections are also regularly conducted by experts at Infection Control Services Ltd.
www.infectioncontrolservices.co.uk

You can see our most recent data by visiting www.hcaqualityreport.co.uk

HCA Quality - Our commitment to being the cleanest, safest hospitals in London

MRSA rates in our private hospitals remain nearly six times lower than those of the NHS in London

This can in part be attributed to our policy of screening all patients who are being admitted. This means that there is early identification of those who carry MRSA (an event which is endemic in any patient population) and staff are able to adopt appropriate precautions to ensure that an MRSA eradication programme is administered if necessary.

In addition patients are treated in single rooms which are rigorously cleaned between occupants to ensure that the risk of transfer is minimised.

We also adopt a stringent hand washing policy across our hospitals and everyone, from porters to doctors as well as patient visitors, are required to use the antibacterial hand gel which is available outside all patient rooms.

The graph shows the number of MRSA bacteraemia cases per 10,000 bed days in HCA Hospitals during the whole of 2007 compared with the most recent publicly available figures for the NHS (for six month period ending in September 2007)

Very low risk of C Difficile infection in our private hospitals in London

Clostridium Difficile is also carefully monitored in our hospitals and HCA has a rigorous approach to protecting our patients against an outbreak of C.Difficile. This policy, which is based on good nursing management and monitoring of vulnerable patients, has been adopted across all our hospitals. It includes:

• All our staff are trained to immediately spot antibiotic induced diarrhoea.
• Isolation of patients with symptoms
• Hand washing with soap and water (alcohol gels are ineffective against C. Difficile)
• Close adherence to antibiotic prescribing policies (HCA Hospitals provide consultant-led patient care in which antibiotic usage is carefully monitored by the consultants and by our pharmacies
• Maintaining a high standard of cleanliness (In HCA hospitals rigorous cleaning of patient rooms takes place in line with national guidelines using detergent and chlorine
• Ensuring that all staff comply with the policy

Although it isn't possible to eradicate C.Difficile completely, this policy ensures that the risks to our patients are kept to an absolute minimum.

What is C.Difficile?

C.Difficile is a bacterium which is relatively common and is usually harmless. It is also more likely to occur in patients who have recently been given antibiotics or who have undergone surgery or chemotherapy. It is also more common in the over 65s.. This is because these treatments upset the natural gut ‘flora', which means foreign bacteria are more likely to take hold. A symptom is diarrhoea, which in severe cases can result in infection of the bowel – a serious condition.

Good nursing management and monitoring of vulnerable patients helps to reduce the possibility of them contacting a C. Difficile infection. However, individual isolated cases are extremely difficult to avoid in vulnerable patients.

In the event that a patient does develop C.Difficile, it is important to contain the source of infection and prevent an outbreak to avoid further patients becoming ill.

Please note, we never turn away a patient who already has MRSA or C.Difficile, including patients transferred to us from other hospitals becasue of our intensive care and other specialist facilities.