Steve Brine welcomed Andrew Lansley MP to the RHCH to see the Trust's 'breakthrough' in the fight against the MRSA superbug.
Winchester’s Royal Hampshire County Hospital claims it has discovered a new way to help fight the spread of hospital infections.
A doctor and nursing sister at the Romsey Road hospital have found a "simple" way to cut MRSA rates, which could have national implications.
Since a change in policy was introduced at the hospital six months ago, there have been no new cases of the deadly superbug.
Now Dr Chris Gordon, consultant physician and divisional director of medicine at Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare NHS Trust, believes it could slash infection rates and save lives in hospitals across the UK.
It involves better management of what is called a cannula, a thin tube inserted by needle under the skin to administer intravenous fluids.
The trust, which runs the RHCH and Andover War Memorial Hospital, reported 11 cases of MRSA in 2007/8. Four of the cases, a third, were linked to cannulae.
Dr Gordon said: "It is well known that cannulae can cause bloodstream infections such as MRSA which is why we were so keen to make these changes. If we can prevent these, we can reduce our bloodstream infections by a third. If all trusts did that, just imagine what the national picture would be."
Winchester’s Prospective MP, Steve Brine, brought Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley MP to the city’s Royal Hampshire County Hospital today (Thursday May 8th 2008) to see progress for himself.
Mr Lansley said: “A zero tolerance approach to MRSA has to be the way forward across the whole country and treating cannulae as a prescribed event is an excellent example of a search and destroy strategy that is working. It is not good enough to set an arbitrary target for just a reduction in cases of infection because even one is too many. More than that however, the entire team at the Royal Hampshire are putting in place a whole change of culture and I am delighted to see they are getting results for that. One off gimmicks won’t do, you have to have a strategy that you stick to and pervades everything, all credit to people here for doing that.”
Steve Brine added; ““The Trust ambition to have an infection free hospital in Winchester is exactly where we should be aiming and its nothing less than local people expect. There will always be set-backs along the way but we should congratulate those working at the Royal Hampshire for really setting the standard in such a bold and innovative way. I am really pleased to be able to bring the Shadow Health Secretary to Winchester today so he can see for himself how this Trust is so pro-actively tackling the threat of MRSA on a local level.”
While at the hospital, Mr Lansley also saw ambitious plans for the Romsey Road site which will effectively see a new hospital emerge and met with staff to discuss a wide range of current issues across the NHS.
Pictured; Steve Brine and Andrew Lansley discuss the new techniques with Taunton Ward Sister and Dr Chris Gordon during Thursday's visit.