There are several important things to consider when looking at the data in this section.
1. The number of patients we treat each year
We treat over 85,000 inpatients annually across Epsom and St Helier hospitals, with 370,000 outpatient appointments too. We also see over 25,000 patients on a day case basis.
2. The information below is broken down by hospital, rather than being a total of infections across the Trust
This is important, because Epsom, St Helier and Sutton hospitals have different numbers of patients, with different types of health problems. For example, Sutton Hospital does not have an inpatient department so patients will not spend as much time in the proximity of other patients and we know that this reduces the risk of infection.
Furthermore, the number of beds in Epsom and St Helier hospitals is considerably different: St Helier has 549 patient beds, whereas Epsom has only 274.
In addition, renal services, and the majority of emergency surgery and trauma services are all located on the St Helier site. This means that the difference in patient mix leads to different numbers of MRSA bacteraemia, C. difficile and MSSA between the two sites.
Direct comparisons between our hospitals based on the information in this section should therefore be avoided.
3. MRSA, MSSA and C. difficile are totally different infections and behave in different ways
There may be greater seasonal variations in C. difficile (often increasing during the winter months), than in MRSA or MSSA, and it is important to bear this in mind when making historical comparisons.
4. The figures are not classified as official statistics
This means that the data should be interpreted with caution. They are preliminary figures and may change after consultation with external bodies such as the HPA and our primary care trusts. Duplicate records also sometimes need to be removed at a later stage.
It is possible to look at infection data from our Trust and other trusts at www.data.gov.uk. However it is not easy to compare the Trust with other acute hospital trusts as the type of activity, size of hospitals, patient mix and the nature of care they provide varies from one trust to the next.
