Infections report highlights challenges faced by Shropshire’s main hospitals

These have been mainly of covid and flu with 14 outbreaks of coronavirus, affecting a total of 45 patients, and five influenza outbreaks affecting 26 patients and four staff during the last three months of 2025.

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Paula Gardner, SaTH’s interim chief nursing officer, will be presenting her regular report into the subject.

She is set to ask her colleagues to support investment in infection prevention and control and to endorse “strengthened clinical engagement and accountability”.

The SaTH board will be told that recurring themes “included delay in isolation, suboptimal cleanliness of the immediate patient environment and shared equipment, frequent patient moves between bays and wards.”

There are also “limited isolation facilities” and a lack of space where patients can be moved to so that wards can be cleaned.

But the report adds that overall compliance with the Health and Social Care Act (2008) remains high at 97 per cent, with a single, red-rated element linked to gaps in occupational health contact tracing.

The trust’s senior leaders will be told that initiatives include monthly quality ward walks by matrons, daily ward visits with advice and “education discussions” with medics.

The infection prevention and control report to the board also reveals that there has been one case of the antibiotic resistant MRSA.

Officials reviewed the case and ruled that it was “unavoidable” after the patient who had a known history of MRSA “consistently declined” treatment to get rid of it.

The report shows that the patient, who had been repatriated from Switzerland, had been nursed in a side room throughout the stay.

The ward staff were commended for conducting appropriate screening and isolating the patient on admission.

During the same October to December period the trust has seen more cases of C Difficile (28), E Coli (43) and Klebsiella (13). Officials review all cases to identify any potential lapses in care or any common themes.

“So far, of the 68 C. diff cases reviewed for this financial year 24 are likely to have been caused by inappropriately prescribed antibiotics,” the report says.

“Our main struggles have been ability to complete a deep clean and slow progression of the proposal to move to Fidaxomicin for first line treatment of C. diff.”

For the 43 E. Coli infections 10 “were considered to be device or intervention related”, with the source in all 10 cases considered to be a urinary tract infection with a catheter in place

The report outlines that lessons learned from all cases are fed back to staff, including medical teams.

Themes identified include “missed opportunities for hand hygiene for staff and patients” at mealtimes, substandard cleanliness of the immediate patient environment and equipment, and non compliance with being bare below the elbows.

The report also outlines the more unusual infection incidents, which included a case of Norwegian scabies at the trust in December.

The infection, a scaly rash with thickened crusts of skin, affected one patient and nine symptomatic staff.

But there report reveals that there had been a delay in diagnosing it which caused “confusion relating to measures and isolation.”

There was also one case of the fungal yeast candidozyma auris in a patient who was repatriated from Rhodes following a stroke on holiday.

The patient tested positive following transfer to another hospital but his initial stay on ward 28 generated several contacts.

The report reveals that they were “all managed appropriately, and no onward transmission was identified.”