PREVENTION OF HEALTHCARE ASSOCIATED INFECTIONS

That this House regrets that the best estimate the Government has provided for the cost to the NHS of treating and preventing healthcare associated infections (HCAIs) is based on data that is 14 years old; notes that recent reductions in superbug infection rates are modest drops from record high levels; understands that the NHS is considering providing infection-control packs to only those patients who already have MRSA; regrets that such measures are designed to deal with infection rather than prevent it; further notes that it costs up to £10,000 more to treat each patient that contracts an HCAI, which affect an estimated one in 10 patients, and that in consequence the NHS spends up to £1,000 per in-patient on treating HCAIs irrespective of whether the in-patient contracts an infection; believes that, in order to prevent HCAIs, it is essential that the NHS provides a comprehensive range of proven personal antimicrobial products and a guide to infection control to every NHS in-patient; calls upon the Government to, at the very least, undertake widespread trials of such an initiative, report the findings to the House and extend the initiative throughout the NHS if the trial is successful; and recognises that this preventative scheme, if implemented, would cost a small fraction of the amount spent on HCAI treatment.