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Plan to tackle antibiotic resistance
17/03/2008
Scotland will move to the forefront of the UK and Europe in the fight against antibiotic resistant hospital infections such as MRSA thanks to a £1.25 million investment, Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said today.
The funding is part of an action plan published today to tackle the growing problem of antibiotic resistance.
The action plan sets out measures health boards will take to reduce antibiotic resistance and will see a robust surveillance programme put in place to monitor the situation across Scotland's hospitals.
It will promote prudent prescribing of antibiotics through improved diagnosis of illnesses and education of NHS staff.
The surveillance programme will monitor and provide data on organisms which are resistant to antibiotics, such as MRSA, morbidity and how widely antibiotics are used.
This will allow early identification of serious emerging resistance to antibiotics within hospitals and the community.
Ms Sturgeon also announced that £1.25 million was being invested in NHS boards to provide them with state-of-the-art testing equipment for better and faster monitoring of bugs' resistance to antibiotics.
A group of HAI experts is being established to take forward the recommendations in the report.
Visiting a microbiology laboratory at the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow, Ms Sturgeon said: "Resistance to antibiotics is recognised internationally as a major threat to public health and patient safety and this growing problem is something the Scottish Government takes very seriously.
"It is vital that the information we have on antibiotic resistance is as robust as possible and that's why I'm delighted to announce today £1.25 million for NHS boards to provide modern equipment to provide better monitoring. This will place us at the forefront within the UK and across much of Europe in terms of surveillance and I'm pleased to see evidence today of the positive impact this equipment is having.
"One of the most important things that can be done in the fight against hospital superbugs is to stamp out unnecessary use of antibiotics.
"If you have a cold or a virus, in the vast majority of cases you don't need to take antibiotics. In fact, doing so unnecessarily can increase the virulence and spread of infections like MRSA and C.diff, which we all know can have a devastating effect.
"Last year I published the third HAI action plan, which comes into force in April this year. It saw record investment of 54 million pounds in tackling HAI, including plans to set up a pilot MRSA screening programme, more details of which I will announce soon.
"The plan I am publishing today is further evidence of how serious the Scottish Government is about tackling HAI and I am confident it will achieve real results in driving down rates of HAI in our hospitals."
Dr Penelope Redding, Lead Consultant Microbiologist (South Glasgow), NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said: "Analytical processing for antibiotic sensitivity testing has now been standardised across all 27 diagnostic laboratories in Scotland, yielding significant benefits. It also includes a bacterial identification programme.
"Antibiotic sensitivity testing is now carried out through an automated processing method known as VITEK. Following the installation of VITEK, turnaround times for test results have reduced. This means that appropriate antibiotic treatment for patients can be started sooner."
The national group of experts, the Scottish Antimicrobial Prescribing Group, will be made up of microbiologists, infection control professionals, pharmacists, prescribers and national expert bodies. It will be overseen by the Scottish Medicines Consortium.
Although not resistant to antibiotics itself, use of antibiotics is one of the major risk factors for patients becoming ill with C.difficile. Better antibiotic prescribing reduces the risk of C.diff.