What are Healthcare-Associated Infections
Healthcare-Associated Infections (HCAIs) are those infections that develop as a direct result of any contact in a healthcare setting. They occur in hospitals and in the community; and affect both patients and healthcare workers. There are many causes of HCAI, but they are most commonly caused by the contaminated hands of healthcare workers, contaminated medical devices, and a failure of staff to comply with local policies, procedures and guidelines.

MRSA
In recent years there has been a lot of media publicity surrounding drug-resistant infections such as Meticillin-resistant Staphlococcus aureus (MRSA). Many newspapers have referred to MRSA as the 'Super Bug' or 'Killer Bug' and sometimes focused on drug-resistant infections as they were the only HCAI. However, while it is true that MRSA and other drug-resistant infections are currently a major problem for many healthcare services around the world, there are many other infections that are just as harmful and just as important to control. For example, Clostridium difficile is a common cause of diahorrea in hospitals, Acinetobacter causes HCAI particularly in patients in intensive care units, and noravirus causes sickness and vomiting.

The Effects of HCAI
Every year at least 300,000 patients develop an HCAI and it is estimated that around 1 in 10 patients pick up an infection during their stay in a UK hospital. These infections are often difficult to treat and they can complicate illnesses, cause distress to patients and their family, and in some cases may even lead to death.

If a patient gets an HCAI, it may:

• Make their existing medical condition worse

• Make their stay in hospital longer

• Cause them pain, depression and stress

• Lead to a loss of earnings

• Reduce their chances of successful recovery.

On average, patients with an HCAI have been found to be around 7 times more likely to die in hospital than uninfected patients. It is estimated that as many as 5,000 patients die each year in the UK as a direct result of HCAI and it is one of the factors in another 15,000 deaths.

Impact on NHS
As well as affecting patients, s also a serious burden on the NHS. These infections are costing the NHS an estimated £1 billion a year and they are having a major impact on the availability of beds because infected patients have to spend, on average, an extra 11 days in hospital. Furthermore, infected patients cost 3 times more to treat than uninfected patients and infections are becoming difficult to treat because of an increase in antimicrobial resistance. Some of the other costs to the NHS include:

• Staff workload

• Treatment for staff

• Extra costs.

Preventing HCAI
Unfortunately, not all HCAI can be prevented as they are often the price we pay for advances in medicine. But with good practice and careful hygiene it has been estimated that around 15% to 30% could be avoided.
Everyone working in healthcare and healthcare research has a role to play in helping to prevent the spread of infection. And as such it is our responsibility to do everything we can to protect patients and staff.