Despite the decline in rates of hospital acquired infections (HAI) since the 1950s, the level remains high and a significant proportion of them are unavoidable. International studies show that between 5.9 and 13.5 patients in every hundred are affected by hospital acquired infections, most frequently of the urinary tract, of the lower respiratory tract and in surgical wounds. The evidence from the UK is similar to that from the rest of the world e.g. one study (Meers et al, 1981) found a UK prevalence rate of 9.2 infections per hundred patients. These rates appear to have been largely unchanged for two decades despite evidence that perhaps as many as 1 in 3 infections could be avoided. To reduce the costs and impaired quality of life associated with these infections it is necessary to improve surveillance methods, in particular add an economic (cost) component to identify the resource consequences of increased length of stay and increased medication, and identify cost effective methods of reducing HAIs. It is estimated that hospital acquired infections in England cost the NHS nearly £115 million in 1987. With improved policies of demonstrated cost effectiveness, such as better hygiene and the selective use of prophylactic drugs, perhaps as much as £36 million of these costs to the NHS count be avoided. This would “free up” NHS resources for other patients wishing for beneficial care and would avoid much misery and reduced quality of life for patients unfortunate enough to acquire infections in hospitals.
