News
Four million pounds to tackle hospital-associated infections - 28 July 2008
More than four million pounds of funding has been secured to boost translational research into the prevention of hospital-acquired infections.
The funding was given to a London consortium comprising Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, Imperial College London and the Health Protection Agency (HPA), with the aim of ensuring that benefits from research into infections such as MRSA and C. difficile reach patients as quickly and effectively as possible.
It will be used to fund four new workstreams, one of which is laboratory-based and includes work to identify any particularly virulent strain of MRSA, analysing its signature so it can be quickly detected and controlled and responses can be prepared.
Another workstream includes projects on finding the best ways to change habits of hospital staff and patients to prevent infections occurring and spreading and to improve antibiotic use in our hospitals.
The funding, provided by UK Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC), will allow the creation of more than 15 new posts including a consultant-level infection control nurse, a consultant-level infectious diseases pharmacist, PhD fellows and an academic manager, as well as the development of new multi-professional courses and training opportunities.
In addition, the HPA will also be funding the development of an HPA centre linked to the consortium that will provide two new posts.
Dr Alison Holmes, the trust’s director of infection prevention and control, said: “This funding injection will boost our ability to tackle hospital-associated infections not just at a laboratory level, but through figuring out how to make people change their habits and practices and to change the ways our hospitals are managed. This is a crucial part of the project – to ensure that we’re not just coming up with new ideas; we’re making sure they become part of practice on the wards.”
Dr Holmes added that the work would benefit both the NHS as an organisation and the local population. “The applied research will involve our five hospitals, so our patients will be the first in the country to benefit from the innovation and improvements,” she said.
The funding announcement comes at a time of continued strong infection prevention and control performance at the Trust in spite of the challenges of merging and service reconfiguration. The latest figures show that the organisation is on trajectory for the reduction in cases of MRSA bacteraemia for 2008/09 – the annual Department of Health target is 70 cases. And in April the Trust announced it had successfully reduced MRSA bloodstream infections by 60 percent over the last three years. Latest data also shows that in June the Trust was meeting and exceeding its reduction targets for the number of C.difficile cases.
Professor Steve Smith, chief executive of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and principal of the faculty of medicine at Imperial College London, said: "All of us involved in running hospitals want to make sure that our patients receive the best possible care and a key aspect of this is making sure we minimise their risk of contracting an infection.
"As the UK's first academic health science centre, Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust are in the perfect position to not only research the best ways of tackling these infections, but to make sure patients see their care improving in our own hospitals and across the UK as a result of our academic work," added Professor Smith.
ENDS
Notes to editors
• Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust comprises Charing Cross, Hammersmith, Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea, St Mary’s and Western Eye hospitals. It is the largest Trust in the country and, in partnership with Imperial College London, is the UK’s first academic health science centre (AHSC).
• Please find workstream details below:
1. Embedding infection prevention within NHS organisational structures including incorporating infection prevention and control (IPC) into NHS management and service delivery and investigating the application of social marketing and behavioural sciences (led by Professor Rifat Atun and Dr. Alison Holmes)
2. Molecular pathogenetic research to identify factors affecting bacterial transmission and virulence of the most clinically relevant strains that will lead to novel diagnostics and interventions (led by Professor Shiranee Sriskandan and Dr. Kathy Bamford)
3. Developing and utilising surveillance schemes including novel uses of existing databases to enhance surveillance capability of healthcare-associated infections (HCAI) (led by Dr Paul Aylin, Dr Alison Holmes and Prof Mike Catchpole (HPA))
4. Development of multi-disciplinary capacity-building in infection with the aim of developing a skilled workforce to deliver clinical care, research and leadership in IPC (led by Professor Jon Friedland)
For more information please contact :
Cymbeline Moore
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust press office
Telephone: 020 8383 3005
Out of hours: call 020 8846 1234 and ask for the on-call press officer
Email: cymbeline.moore@imperial.nhs.uk
