NURSES are to be questioned by police over a string of deaths during a Clostridium difficile outbreak at a Scottish hospital, it emerged yesterday.
The staff at Vale of Leven Hospital in Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire, are seeking legal advice after finding out they will be questioned about the outbreak last year.
In total 18 deaths at the hospital were linked to C difficile, while 55 peopl
e were infected between December 2007 and June last year.
Police and health inspectors launched a investigation following the publication of an independent report last summer.
Norman Provan, from the Royal College of Nursing Scotland, told Nursing Standard magazine: "This is a difficult time for staff at the Vale of Leven. For those who are asked to attend police interviews, we are arranging for them to meet with our legal advisers before being interviewed."
It is unusual for police to question NHS staff over outbreaks of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).
Outbreaks of C difficile at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust in Kent, and Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire, were investigated, but police concluded there was no realistic prospect of securing convictions.
Both Strathclyde Police and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) are involved in the Vale of Leven inquiry and aim to submit reports to the procurator fiscal in the coming months.
The hospital's paperwork in relation to infection-control procedures is also being investigated. A major incident room has been set up at Dumbarton police station, while the HSE team has three inspectors and three specialists.
Victims' relatives have called for a public inquiry into the Vale of Leven deaths, but Scottish health secretary Nicola Sturgeon has said she is reluctant to launch such an inquiry while a police investigation is ongoing.
The Scottish Government announced new rules this week which will compel health boards to monitor hospital infections more closely.
Rates of infection for the MRSA and C difficile bugs will have to be reported at frequent intervals for each hospital.
Michelle Stewart, whose mother-in-law was one of the C difficile victims at the Vale of Leven, said it was vital that staff at the hospital were questioned as part of the inquiry.
"It is not about saying they are to blame, but investigators will want to speak to them about training on infection control, and if they knew there was an outbreak going on," she said.
Liberal Democrat health spokesman Ross Finnie said: "The fact that the police are conducting interviews with nursing staff indicates the need for a thorough and all-encompassing public inquiry into the C difficile outbreak at the hospital."
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "The area procurator fiscal must be allowed to conduct his investigations into whether there are any criminal charges to be brought. That is what is happening."
Party's 15-point plan for safer hospitalsSCOTLAND must aim to cut rates of C difficile in hospitals by 50 per cent in the next two years, Scottish Labour said today.
Working with leading infection experts, the party has produced a 15-point plan, which it says will help to make hospitals cleaner and safer if adopted by the Scottish Government.
Proposals include creating a target to cut C difficile rates by 50 per cent by March 2011, compared with the 30 per cent target currently in place. Labour said current targets to cut C difficile, which affects thousands of patients a year, were not ambitious enough.
Jackie Baillie, MSP, said other proposals include the creation of a hospital acquired infection "commissioner" to oversee the "clutter" of agencies currently tackling infections and more in-depth analysis of bugs to identify more virulent strains.
They also want better hand-washing facilities in all hospital wards and more single rooms to isolate all infected patients. The proposals were developed in consultation with Professor Brain Toft, professor of patient safety at Coventry, and the Aberdeen-based microbiologist Professor Hugh Pennington.
