Healthcare Associated Infections (HCAI)

HCAI are infections that are acquired as a result of healthcare interventions. There are a number of factors that can increase the risk of acquiring an infection, but high standards of infection control practice minimise the risk of occurrence.

Image used with permission from Glasgow Caledonian University [external link].

Public Health England assists infection control and the control of antimicrobial resistance in the healthcare setting by monitoring these infections with mandatory and voluntary surveillance schemes covering bacteraemia (blood stream infections) caused by Staphylococcus aureus - both meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and meticillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA), E.coli and glycopeptide-resistant enterococcus(GRE) as well as Clostridium difficile infection (C. diff/CDI), surgical site infections (of which some orthopaedic categories are mandatory) via the surgical site infection surveillance scheme (SSISS). Other healthcare associated infections, including antimicrobial (antibiotic) resistant micro-organisms are also monitored via a voluntary microbiology laboratory reporting system.

What's new

14 March 2013: Quarterly Epidemiological Commentary: Trends in MRSA bacteraemia, MSSA bacteraemia, E. coli bacteraemia and C. difficile infection: data up to October - December 2012
7 December 2012: Surveillance of Surgical Site Infections in NHS hospitals in England 2011/12
26 October 2012: New public health guidance on the management of pertussis incidents in healthcare settings
19 October 2012: Klebsiella, Enterobacter, Serratia, and Citrobacter bacteraemia, England, Wales, and Northern Ireland: 2007-2011 (PDF, 1.4 MB)
21 September 2012: HCAI & Antimicrobial Resistance 2010-2011 Annual Report
21 September 2012: Laboratory reports of candidaemia, England, Wales and Northern Ireland:2011.
7 August 2012: New study on surgical site infections following caesarean section
20 July 2012: Pseudomonas spp. and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia bacteraemia in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, 2007 to 2011
12 July 2012: Annual MRSA bacateraemia, MSSA bacteraemia and Clostridium difficile infection data tables by acute Trust and Primary Care Organisation
23 May 2012: English National Point Prevalence Survey on Healthcare-associated Infections and Antimicrobial Use, 2011: preliminary data
4 May 2012:
The HPA contributed to an evaluation of the national cleanyourhands campaign which was rolled out to all 187 NHS Trusts with instructions to provide bed-side alcohol handrub, posters encouraging healthcare workers to clean their hands and a range of patient empowering materials.
The research shows that the increased procurement of soap was independently linked with reduced C. difficile infection throughout the study and increased procurement of alcohol hand rub was independently associatiated with reduced MRSA infection. These strong and independent associations remained after taking account of all other interventions.
BMJ paper reports on national Cleanyourhands campaign [external link]
UCL report reduced infections total following national handwashining campaign [external link]
20 April 2012: Proteus spp., Morganella morganii, and Providencia spp. bacteraemia reports for England, Wales and Northern Ireland: 2007-2011
23 December 2011: Guidelines for prevention and control of group A streptococcal infection in acute healthcare and maternity settings in the UK [external link]
9 November 2011: NICE publishes quality improvement guide on preventing and controlling healthcare associated infections