While MRSA rates in England continue to fall, NHS Trusts are looking for smarter ways to achieve further reductions in infection rates, or to support their ‘zero-tolerance approaches’, and, according to the Copper Development Association (CDA), the not-for-profit, membership-based organisation which supports and promotes ‘the correct and efficient use of copper and its alloys’, deployment of antimicrobial copper touch surfaces is being adopted in many hospitals and other healthcare facilities worldwide as ‘an additional and cost-effective infection control measure’.
CDA Director Angela Vessey highlights the benefits, and examines some of the growing number of healthcare installations of ‘antimicrobial copper’ worldwide.
Compliance with handwashing protocols in hospitals has become a hot topic and, while significant reductions have been achieved in cases of certain healthcare-associated infections – such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile – current figures still show that, within the European Union, over four million patients contract a healthcare-associated infection (HCAI) each year. With these leading to 16 million extra days in hospital, accounting for an estimated 37,000 deaths, and costing the NHS alone over £1 billion annually, it is clear that much remains to be done. In a publication from the Health and Care Infrastructure Research and Innovation Centre, released in February, Redesigning hospital environments can help tackle infection,1 Dr Vanya Gant, Divisional Clinical Director for Infection at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and Nigel Klein, Professor and Consultant in Paediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunology at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, London, observe: “Improvements in healthcare have led to more patients surviving with increasingly complex conditions. Our hospitals are full of very sick patients who are not only vulnerable to infection, but who may themselves act as potential sources of bacteria harmful to other vulnerable patients.”
‘New threats’ emerging
Log in or register FREE to read the rest
This story is Premium Content and is only available to registered users. Please log in at the top of the page to view the full text.
If you don't already have an account, please register with us completely free of charge.
