Faster test to detect superbug in patients at Dorset County Hospital

10:10am Friday 7th November 2008

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HOSPITAL chiefs have started a new and quicker screening programme to reduce infections.

Dorset County Hospital has announced new tests for MRSA bacteria on high-risk patients in order to isolate and treat them before surgery.

The previous screening technology took at least 24 hours but the new Xpert MRSA test delivers DNA-based results within 75 minutes.

Director of Nursing and Infection Prevention and Control, Alison Tong, said: “The rapid screening technology will vastly reduce the risks to patients admitted to Dorset County Hospital “I hope it will provide further reassurance to the public that we are continually striving to minimise all risks.

“We are always looking for new ways to further prevent infection and improve patient care and the Xpert MRSA test is so easy-to-use that we are now considering training non-laboratory technical staff to undertake some screening.”

The Xpert MRSA test is a DNA test that enables the hospital to identify patients carrying the bacteria on their skin or nasal passages. MRSA bacteria can be transmitted from patient to patient and can enter the body through open wounds, injections, catheters and intravenously, making hospital patients susceptible to infection.

Illnesses brought on by MRSA include blood poisoning and organ and lung infections. Around five in every 100 people carry the MRSA bacteria on their skin with 1,805 infected patients reported by the Health Protection Agency in the first six months of 2008.

Nurse Consultant for Infection Prevention and Control, Anne Smith, said patients identified as carrying the MRSA bacteria start a regime of cleaning with a disinfectant solution and cream to prevent further risk.

She said: “We are trying to stay ahead of government targets because there are benefits for patients. We should do everything we can to reduce the risk.

“We will now be using the new equipment to test patients who we believe to be high risk. These include patients who’ve come into contact with those who have MRSA. Currently we test 15,000 per year using the laboratory and that will rise to 40,000 by 2009.”

The Department of Health has issued guidance that by March, 2009, all planned admissions should be screened.