Published at 11:45, Thursday, 28 August 2008

INFECTION control will be top of the agenda when hospital bosses hold their annual general meeting in Carlisle next week.

Managers from the North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs both the Cumberland Infirmary and West Cumberland Hospital, will address the public meeting on Tuesday.

They will report on their successes and problems over the past year and set out their main goals and challenges for the next 12 months.

There will also be a presentation from the hospitals’ infection prevention teams on how patients and visitors can help in the battle to reduce the spread of disease.

Over the past year, the trust has put in place new initiatives at both hospitals. As a result there has been a 40 per cent fall in cases of the superbug Clostridium Difficile and a 30 per cent reduction in cases of MRSA.

During the AGM, the team will be inviting questions from members of the public and give demonstrations on using hand-gel effectively.

It will be held in the lecture theatre at the education centre, behind the main Cumberland Infirmary, on Tuesday, September 2, at 5.30pm.

Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk