editorial

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editorial advisory board David Benton

consultant in nursing and health policy International Council of Nurses, Geneva

Juliet Chambers

deputy director of nursing Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust

Deborah Clatworthy

acting assistant director of nursing The Whittington Hospital NHS Trust, London

Geraldine Cunningham acting director RCN Institute

Jenny Hey

assistant director of operations, children’s services The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Jenny Kay

The Department of Health’s Saving Lives delivery programme to reduce healthcare assoc­iated infections (HCAIs) such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is being used by more than 90 per cent of acute trusts, and provides us all with an excellent opportunity to make significant progress towards safer care. We can all contribute to the reduction of HCAIs; it is everyone’s business. As chief nursing officer for England, I support patients who expect rightfully to be treated in clean and safe environments, and it is my role to oversee the actions being taken to reduce MRSA infection rates, and to make the public once again confident that our hospitals are clean and safe places to be treated. For patients, the costs of HCAIs are increased length of stay, possible death and needless pain. The National Audit Office meanwhile estimates that the cost to the health service of HCAIs is around £1 billion pounds every year (NAO 2004). Clearly, these burdens are unacceptable for patients and the NHS. The impact of these costs on both our patients and organisations is significant, and explains why the government has set a target to halve the number of MRSA bloodstream infections by 2008. This is something on which nurse managers should focus as they strive to improve the quality of patient care. Nurse managers can act as agents of change locally by instilling cultures of reliability, safety and cleanliness across teams. By doing so, they can ensure that everyone in their trusts knows how they can contribute to reaching this target. The tools and methods of the Saving Lives programme enable nurse leaders to work with other managers to design comprehensive and prioritised action plans that incorporate national guidance and good practice, and embed infection control across all clinical settings. Janice Stevens is leading the MRSA and Cleaner Hospitals programme at the DH and has summarised the Saving Lives programme, and its potential impact, in this month’s Nursing Management. Her article explains why reliability is so important, not just in increasing the effectiveness of our service, but also in re-establishing public confidence in the NHS as providing clean and safe environments for health care. Clinical and managerial leadership at every turn is needed to reinforce best practice and ensure that everyone, not only front line staff, know what needs to be done every time they encounter patients to reduce the risk of avoidable infections. We must set this in a wider context, by connecting leadership with performance management, service transformation and clinical governance, to ensure that the changes being made to keep infection rates down are sustained. Visit www.dh.gov.uk/reducingmrsa to check if your trust has enroled. From this website you can access the latest tools and sign up for the latest news bulletins about the programme, which is endorsed by the RCN, the Infection Control Nurses Association and other professional bodies. See also pages 16-17 Reference National Audit Office (2004) Improving Patient Care by Reducing the Risk of Hospital Acquired Infection: A progress report. NAO, London.

director of nursing Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust, Kent

Caroline Shuldham

director of nursing and quality Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust, London

Chris Beasley Chris Beasley is chief nursing officer for England

nursing management Vol 12 No 10 March 2006 Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Sep 16, 2016. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright © 2016 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.



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THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH'S Saving Lives delivery programme to reduce healthcare associated infections (HCAIs) such as methicillin resistant Staphyloco...
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