CROYDON COMMUNITY HEALTH SERVICES

We promise the people of Croydon we will do all we can to ensure you feel in safe hands with highly professional staff who work well together in clean clinics and hospitals. We have made significant reductions in the rates of MRSA and Clostridium difficile and we follow national guidance on MRSA screening and use of appropriate antibiotics. We also monitor other infections including extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) and Glycopeptide resistant Enterococci (GRE) In accordance with Department of Health guidelines Croydon Health Services NHS Trust has reviewed its policy for the Prevention and Control of MRSA and can confirm that the screening process of patients admitted to Croydon University Hospital is compliant with this guidance. The Trust now screens for MRSA in patients who are due to come in for surgery (elective admissions) and those admitted as emergencies as soon as the latter are admitted (emergency admission screening).

This means that the Trust is fully compliant with the Department of Health requirements for screening elective admissions by April 2009 and for screening emergency admissions by December 2010. If you have any questions about our policy or about wider arrangements in the Trust for the prevention and control of infection please ask the doctor or nurse providing your care. An on-site inspection by the Care Quality Commission in 2009 found no breach of the Hygiene Code.

The Trust regularly scores “good” across the three areas of food, cleanliness and privacy and dignity in the annual Patient Environment Action team (PEAT) inspection which takes the views of patients, public and staff into account.