(2) whether checks on health service facilities in relation to implementing guidance on minimising MRSA are carried out without prior warning.
It is the responsibility of each health and social services trust to make sure that it monitors performance including staff compliance with guidance for minimising MRSA. The main mechanism for the Department to monitor compliance with guidance for minimising MRSA is the annual reporting by trusts on the Infection Prevention and Control Controls Assurance Standard. Mandatory surveillance of the level of MRSA bacteraemias has been in place since 2002.
The Department’s “Changing the Culture” action plan of March 2006 on the prevention and control of health care-associated infections requires trusts to produce annual infection reduction plans. A key message of the action plan is that infection prevention and control is the responsibility of everyone concerned. Arrangements for a regional infection control manual, which will detail specific control measures for MRSA and provide a universal set of standards against which compliance might be measured, are also being considered.
Announced or unannounced external checks on the implementation of guidance are not currently planned.
Under the ward sisters’ charter launched this October, ward sisters will encourage patients and visitors to monitor and report on standards of cleanliness.