( The larger and busier an NHS hospital i...)Better Risk Management Could Cut MRSA Infection Rates,Health

The larger and busier an NHS hospital is, the higher the MRSA infection rate, research from// the Nottingham University Business School has revealed.

The impact of risk management standards on the frequency of MRSA infections in NHS hospitals study looked at how demanding risk management standards imposed by hospital insurers — and the premium discounts offered if these rigorous standards are met — could reduce MRSA infection rates.

Institutions with the highest number of 'bed days' for riskier treatments, particularly surgery and gynaecology, have an increased likelihood of infection. But financial incentives could play a role in controlling MRSA infection rates, potentially slashing the incidence of infection by between 11 and 20 per cent, the study shows.

MRSA infection costs the NHS ￡1bn a year in terms of prevention, compensation payments and additional treatment. Deaths involving MRSA rose from 51 in 1993 to 1,629 in 2005.

All NHS hospitals carry insurance to cover them against claims for illness and injuries caused by medical treatment. As with other insurance settings, the cover it provides reduces the need to try to minimise exposure to claims, because the insurer, not the hospital, will be paying the claim. In the NHS, the insurer, the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA), overcomes this problem by outlining strict risk management standards. The standards are increasingly demanding and — if they can demonstrate compliance with them — hospitals are granted increasing discounts on the premiums they pay the NHSLA for their cover. If the financial incentives implicit in these arrangements are effective, hospitals attaining higher risk management levels could face lower MRSA infection rates.

The study, led by Paul Fenn, Norwich Union Professor of Insurance Studies in the Nottingham University Business School, involved Professor Alastair Gray from the University of Oxford and Professor Neil Rickman fr
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