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Spot inspections linked to superbug decline

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Surprise visits by health inspectors are helping hospitals win the war against superbugs, according to Scotland's NHS bug-buster. Healthcare Environment Inspectorate (HEI) chief inspector Susan Brimelow said the unannounced spot checks were 'paying dividends' as the latest annual report showed wards and equipment are generally cleaner and superbug infections are falling. The report by HEI said the number of problems found by inspectors during announced and unannounced visits to hospitals had fallen to their lowest rate since the regime began. The number of 'requirements' issued between October 2011 and September 2012 had fallen to 110, compared to 172 in 2009/10, equivalent to a rate of 3.5 per inspection. Requirements refer to improvements ordered by inspectors to ensure a particular ward or facility meets the national standards for controlling healthcare associated infections, laid out by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland. This week's annual report was the first since unannounced inspections were rolled out in June 2012, a move Ms Brimelow has credited with driving up standards. 'I am confident our programme of predominantly unannounced inspections is paying dividends and we will continue to scrutinise hospitals in this way, working with NHS boards to focus on those areas that still need to improve,' she said. 'I feel cautiously optimistic we are seeing progress but NHS boards must not take their eye off the ball and should always be ready for inspection.' The improvement coincided with a fall in the incidence of hospital superbugs over the same period. Cases of C.difficile among patients over-65 fell 37 per cent in 2011/12 compared to 2009/10, while cases of MRSA had fallen by 35 per cent.

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