Wye Valley NHS Trust, which includes Ross-on-Wye's Community Hospital, is celebrating four years without a case of hospital-acquired MRSA bacteraemia (blood stream) infection in its hospitals - making it the top performer in the West Midlands.

In fact, this puts the Trust as a top performer in England, with only one other hospital achieving a longer period of time without an MRSA bacteraemia.

The Trust has a “zero tolerance approach” to healthcare associated infections and is committed to providing first class patient care.

“That’s why infection control is one of our priorities,” said Alison Johnson, Consultant Microbiologist at the Trust. “Reducing MRSA bacteraemia is a national target across the NHS and this Trust has the best record on this in the West Midlands.

“There are many reasons for this good record - we have a strict cleaning, hygiene and hand-washing regimes, a robust antibiotic prescribing policy and ongoing screening of all people that we admit to hospital.

“We have a dedicated team of medical and clinical staff who understand the importance of infection control and it’s very much down to their vigilance and determination that we have reached this major milestone,” added Alison.

“On behalf of all our patients, I’d like to publicly thank them for their determination to keep the hospital clear of MRSA - this outstanding achievement is due to their tenacity and determination to provide first class patient care.”

The Trust clocked up four years of being free from MRSA on Saturday, March 18th.

It frequently runs awareness campaigns linked to infection control which raises awareness of the importance of effective hand hygiene among both its staff, patients and their relatives and visitors to the Trust’s hospitals.

Lucy Flanagan, the Trust’s Director of Nursing and Quality, said: “The welfare of our patients is our priority and we do all we can to ensure that none of them suffers from an avoidable infection.

“Our staff members continue to play a vital role in reducing hospital-acquired infections and are encouraged to challenge each other if they feel proper infection control processes are not being followed.

“This is a great achievement, but the challenge remains and we’re not resting on our laurels. We will continue to be vigilant and on our guard to keep hospital acquired infections at bay here at the Trust,” added Lucy.