Scottish Government commits £54 million to fight against superbugs

A £54 million war against hospital infections, including superbugs, was today declared by health secretary Nicola Sturgeon.

The three-year plan will see a pilot screening programme next year for the MRSA bug ahead of a national programme the following year.

A Scottish laboratory for another superbug, Clostridium difficile, has set up at Glasgow’s Stobhill Hospital.

Health officials said this meant samples no longer have to be sent to the UK laboratory in Wales, reducing the time taken for particular strains of the bug to be identified.

In other moves, trained staff will visit wards more frequently for "hand hygiene audits" to check how often staff wash their hands.

And the body which monitors hospital cleanliness standards, Health Facilities Scotland, is to identify areas where the standards can be toughened up.

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The moves were announced by Ms Sturgeon in a speech in Clydebank to senior NHS staff.

The pilot MRSA screening programme will see all patients tested for the bug before operations or being admitted to wards, with those carrying MRSA isolated to help reduce infection.

The pilot will cost £7 million, but it has yet to be decided where it will take place.

The three-year plan to combat healthcare associated infection (HAI) is the first to be based on evidence of the extent of infections in Scottish hospitals.

As part of the plan, targeting skin and soft tissue infections will treated as priorities, and specific “care bundles” will be developed to reduce C. difficile, catheter infections, pneumonia associated with ventilators, surgical site infections, and urinary infections.

Ms Sturgeon said the Scottish Government placed "vital" importance on tackling hospital infections.

"We should recognise that good progress has been made in reducing hospital infections, but should be under no illusion that more needs to be done," she said.