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The Welsh Assembly has unveiled plans to tackle infections typically associated with hospitals in the community.
Under the proposals, doctors’ surgeries and dental practices will be asked to put procedures in place which aim to limit the number of patients who bring infections such as Clostridium difficile and MRSA into hospital.
GPs, dentists, nursing homes and physiotherapists will be issued with guidance to ensure their staff understand the dangers of infection, and they will also be asked to audit infections in order to allow them to introduce proper control measures.
Although infection rates are lower than in England and Scotland, research by Wales’s Auditor General, Jeremy Colman, found patients are worried that doctors do not wash their hands enough as they carry out their rounds.
Health minister Edwina Hart said: “We need to do all we can to reduce the number of people with infections entering hospitals in the first place.
“The guidance will be aimed at a wide range of individuals and organisations that provide healthcare in the community and includes a range of actions that healthcare organisations and professionals can take to stop patients, residents and healthcare workers from becoming infected as a result of receiving care in the community.”
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