HALTON and Warrington hospitals have missed the target for hospital acquired infections for the second year running - by a handful of cases.

But a top nurse believes they should be praised for detecting more cases of clostridium difficile (c-diff), a bug that causes an infection in the gut.

Lesley McKay, associate director of infection control at Warrington and Halton NHS Foundation Trust, says national targets do not reflect the hard work that goes on behind the scenes.

She said: “We isolate anyone who comes in with diarrhoea until we establish what has caused it and if they text positive for c-diff we move them to a special ward where they are completely isolated.”

The trust had 31 cases of c-diff, four more than their target and two of MRSA, two more than the zero tolerance threshold.

A few years ago, the trust was allowed 31 cases but only had 19.

Lesley said: “The measurement that is being used now isn’t quite right. I don’t think we should be penalised for missing that threshold. I think we should be praised for the amount of testing we are doing.

“We are really dedicated to making sure patients who come in are cared for appropriately.”

The hospitals use a test kit that has a sensitivity of around 96 per and only takes 30 seconds to detect c-diff.

Every patient who tests positive is given a card so their GP can prescribe the correct antibiotics.

Lesley said: “We have really changed the way that we investigate.

“We have set up a c-diff action group.

“We are following the department of health guidelines absolutely to the letter so where other people are perhaps not compliant with that we are because we see the value of making sure the patient has that test result to inform future prescribing.”