Healthcare Acquired Infection(HCAI) is nothing new. The Royal London Hospital was established in 1740 and the minutes of early management meetings included concerns about controlling infection. Eva Luckes, a matron at the Royal London in the late 19th centruy, wrote ‘nurses can scarcely lay too much stress upon necessity for absolute cleanliness’.
So if we understoo the problem of, and the answer to, infection control over 100 years ago, what has gone wrong? What have we forgotten? The Department of Health has ignored the lessons of history;proven infection countermeasures have not been performed regularly or properly at the majority of UK hospitals. Also, the the bugs are getting tougher; the increasing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics makes many infections extremely difficult to treat effectively. It is estimated that one in ten patients will acquire an infection. The cost to the NHS is £1billion per year.