Clostridium difficile infection: impact of an initiative to reduce rates and improve outcomes

C. difficile associated diarrhoea (CDAD) is the most frequent hospital-acquired infectionin the NHS. Rates have increased markedly in recent years and there has been considerable concern that disease severity is also increasing. Many NHS Trusts have opened wards for cohorting CDAD patients and introduced restrictive antibiotic policies. In January 2008 we launched an initiative to combat CDAD in our hospital. This comprised the opening of an 11bed cohort ward, introduction of an antibiotic policy encouraging use of penicillins and aminoglycosidesin place of cephalosporinsand quinolonesand a treatment algorithm for the management of CDAD. Here we report the impact of these measures.