Patient Info

At London Bridge Hospital, minimising the risk of healthcare associated infection, including MRSA infection, for each patient is a matter of continuous vigilance, robust infection surveillance systems and ongoing training of staff at all levels in hospital hygiene. Our entire care infection control procedures are supervised and reinforced by our experienced and dedicated Infection Control Nurses and Consultant Medical advisers.

Staphylococcus aureus is an organism commonly found on the skin and in the nose of healthy people. About 30% of us carry this bacterium and the population affected is continually changing. Methicillin resistant Staph aureus (MRSA) is a much less common variant which is resistant to penicillin and cephalosporin antibiotics commonly used to treat sensitive strains. There are many other antibiotics readily available to treat MRSA infection. These organisms may also be transiently present on the skin without causing infection. However, like sensitive Staph aureus, on occasion, these organisms can cause infection and, rarely, blood infection or septicaemia.

Highest Standards of Infection Control

This commitment to the highest quality standard has successfully kept the incidence of MRSA infection at very low levels. Almost all of our MRSAs are imported and contained. Secondary spread is very unusual.

Other factors that contribute to our high quality record include:

• Individual rooms with private en-suite facilities for almost all patients before and after any treatment or operation, unless the specialist resources of high dependency or intensive care are necessary.
• High nurse to patient ratios, increasing the time available for individual attention and ensuring the highest quality of care and hygiene.
• On- site cleaning staff who work to high specifications of hygiene and cleanliness, available 24 hours every day to respond to any need that may arise.
• A rapid and comprehensive room cleaning regime between the discharge of one patient and the admission of the next.

Patients admitted to London Bridge Hospital, either as a inpatient or as a daycase, are screened for MRSA carriage by taking a swab from the anterior part of the nose (the most common site of staphylococcal carriage, including MRSA) and possibly other key body sites. Should the patient be an MRSA carrier, the procedure may be deferred pending eradication treatment, or if clinically necessary to proceed, will be nursed in strict isolation ("barrier nursing") to reduce the possibility of transmission to healthcare staff or other patients.