Reviews of hospital-acquired covid deaths as ‘basic’ breaches found

Senior doctors are leading a programme of work to review deaths caused by hospital-acquired covid in the North West, which has had disproportionately high rates of nosocomial infections over the last three months.

According to internal NHS England papers seen by HSJ, a number of common themes have been identified as driving the infections in the region, including “breaches in the basic tenets of infection prevention control”, insufficient numbers of cleaning staff at some trusts, and a lack of consistent testing.

The papers say there is also evidence that covid occupancy rates above 20 per cent drives nosocomial transmission. Occupancy rates in the North West have been near or above this level since the start of December, but have still been significantly lower than other areas, such as London.

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Source: HSJ, 24 February 2021