THE death toll from the superbug Clostridium difficile in Lothian hospitals hit 40 in one year, it emerged today.
Government figures reveal more than half of the deaths occurred in the Lothian's biggest hospital, the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, and Liberton Hospital, which has a lot of elderly patients.
It also shows NHS Lothian reported more deaths than any other health board in Scotland in 2006 – the latest year for which figures are available.
Greater Glasgow and Clyde had the second highest number of C. diff deaths in 2006, with 36, while a further 26 took place in Lanarkshire.
Health board chiefs today insisted that they had made progress tackling the problem and that it was now one of the better-performing boards.
The C. diff superbug has overtaken MRSA as the most feared by patients, particularly following an outbreak at the Vale of Leven Hospital, which affected more than 50 patients and killed nine this year.
The bug generally affects elderly people, and is more deadly than MRSA.
Washing hands in soap and water can prevent its spread, but there are fears that alcohol hand rubs – which are used to successfully combat MRSA – may aid the spread of C. diff.
Figures showing C. diff cases in 2007 and the current year are not yet available, but the evidence shows fewer patients in Lothian hospitals are now catching it in the first place.
There were about 220 cases in the Lothians between January and March this year, fewer than in Grampian, Lanarkshire, Forth Valley, Fife and Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
However, the risk of catching C. diff has become a huge concern for elderly patients across Scotland, to the point they are such a degree that many afraid of going into hospital.
Margaret Watt, chairwoman of the Scotland Patients Association, said: "C. diff is a very big concern. We're not playing the blame game, we're asking people to work together to get this out of our hospitals.
"MRSA cases are starting to fall away. If we can get on top of that then we can get on top of C. diff as well.
"Cases seem to be multiplying. Why are they multiplying? We've got to find a reason."
"We want patients to get back the confidence of going into hospitals knowing there's no chance of them getting C. diff.
"This is people's lives and people's relatives. Right now they are afraid of going into hospitals. We have got to move away from that."
Charity Help the Aged said it has been encouraged by the amount of effort currently going into preventing C. diff, particularly in Lothian hospitals.
A spokesman said: "We're seeing evidence of better surveillance from Health Protection Scotland.
"They are monitoring it far more closely and the NHS is getting better at intervening early."
However, he added: "I think some people do worry about it, which is perhaps irrational because the chances of getting it are very low, but I think it does play on people's minds as it has been such an attention-grabbing issue."
Dr Dermot Gorman, public health consultant at NHS Lothian, said: "NHS Lothian has made major improvements since 2006 and we know, from our own monitoring, that the situation is very different today.
"The latest report from the Government's experts, Health Protection Scotland, shows that the rate of C. diff cases in Lothian is lower than the Scottish average and has dropped from 2007.
"Tackling healthcare-associated infection is a key corporate priority for NHS Lothian and we report publicly both on cases and our work to prevent them on a regular basis. This will be discussed again in public at next week's board meeting."
"Our hospitals are consistently given top marks for cleanliness against national standards, while our checks show staff are generally following hand hygiene rules.
"We are also adjusting the medicines some patients receive to make them less susceptible to this infection."
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www.hps.scot.nhs.uk The full article contains 675 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
