Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

North health board fails to achieve infection control target

Clostridium difficile
Clostridium difficile

NHS Highland will miss its target for controlling a potentially life-threatening infection if just one more person becomes a victim before the end of March.

The health board has revealed that it will be unable to comply with the target for Clostridium difficile (C-diff) infection prevention and control for this financial year.

A C-diff infection is a type of bacterial infection that can affect the digestive system.

It most commonly affects people who have been treated with antibiotics and symptoms include diarrhoea, a high temperature and painful abdominal cramps. It can also lead to life-threatening complications, such as severe swelling of the bowel from a build-up of gas.

There is a national target for all health boards of 32 C-diff cases or less per 100,000 total occupied bed days, giving NHS Highland a target of 78.

However, according to figures yet to be validated, NHS Highland recorded 40.6 cases from October to December and, by January 15, the health board had 78 cases.

And, based on previous monthly data, it is estimating that there will be 94 cases by March 31.

These figures appear in a report that NHS Highland nurse director Heidi May will present to the board meeting in Inverness on Tuesday.

It also shows that most of the people who have contracted C-diff are aged over 65 – 60 of the cases, with just 18 cases among 15 to 65-year-olds.

Ms May points out that all severe cases of C-diff infection undergo a case review in order to “identify learning and improve practice”.

She also reveals that the infection protection and control team met representatives of Health Protection Scotland (HPS) last week to discuss the situation and the actions needed to improve it.

The team will also continue to explore the use of Fidaxomycin, which is an antibiotic that has been found to prevent symptom relapses in some patients.

It is also looking at the use of approved probiotics, which can assist a C-diff patient in their recovery by helping to restore the normal bacteria in the bowel.