User:7b1qiphone4z

Cases of deadly C diff soar in Scottish hospitals<br><br>Figures reveal that between July and September last year, rates of the bug increased by 19 per cent in patients over 65 compared to the previous three months. Levels in younger patients  aged 15 to 65  were up 35 per cent, according to Health Protection Scotland (HPS).<br><br>It follows previous sharp declines in C difficile, which had been falling since 2008.<br><br>HPS said the reason for the rise in cases was unknown, but that it might be linked to the inappropriate use of antibiotics, which can increase the risk of the bug taking hold, and failures in infection control. The Scottish Government pointed to large falls in C difficile in recent years, as well as figures showing MRSA cases dropping to their lowest ever level.<br><br>The HPS figures revealed that between July and September, 351 cases of C difficile were recorded in the over 65s  the group most at risk from the infection, which can lead to death in the most serious cases. This amounted to a rate of 40.7 cases per 100,000 hospital bed days, up from 34.2 the previous quarter.<br><br>Ten of Scotland's 14 health boards saw cases increase, with the most significant rise in NHS Highland, where the rate more than doubled. The board is monitoring the increase through a new action group, the report said. Most boards also saw rising rates compared to the previous 12 months. Among patients under 65, the rate of cases increased from 32.4 per 100,000 bed days to 43.9 in July to September, with rates up in 11 health boards compared to the previous quarter. Most boards also had higher incidence rates compared to the previous 12 months, particularly Lanarkshire, Lothian and Tayside.<br><br>However, HPS also pointed out that levels overall in 2012/13 were down almost 8 per cent for over 65s compared to 2011/12, while they were down over 11 per cent in the younger group.<br><br>The report said a pattern of rising rates in the third quarter of the year had been seen, though it was not clear why this happened. HPS added: "It is unknown what is driving the increase in numbers but this may be related to inappropriate prescribing and/or failure to implement and sustain infection prevention and control measures."<br><br>The Scottish Government said the figures showed that the number of people contracting C difficile had "dramatically" fallen by 80 per cent since records began in 2007, despite the rise in the last three months. The figures also revealed that levels of MRSA were at a record low, with a 17 per cent drop in cases between July to September compared to the previous quarter. Just 29 cases were reported.<br><br>Health secretary Alex Neil said: "With this good practice firmly in place we want to remind staff, patients and visitors that they all have a role to play in making sure good standards of cleanliness and hand hygiene are maintained."<br><br>This website and its associated newspaper adheres to the Press Complaints Commission Code of Practice. If you have a complaint about editorial content which relates to inaccuracy or intrusion, then contact the Editor by clicking here.<br><br>If you remain dissatisfied with the response provided then you can contact the PCC by clicking here.<br><br>The Scotsman provides news, events and sport features from the Edinburgh area. For the best up to date information relating to Edinburgh and the surrounding areas visit us at The Scotsman regularly or bookmark this page.<br><br>Cookies are small data files which are sent to your browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome etc) from a website you visit. They are stored on your electronic device.<br><br>This is a type of cookie which is collected by Adobe Flash media player (it is also called a Local Shared Object)  a piece of software you may already have on your electronic device to help you watch online videos and listen to podcasts.<br><br>Yes there are a number of options available, you can set your browser either to reject all cookies, to allow only "trusted" sites to set them, or to only accept them from the site you are currently on.<br><br>However, please note  if you block/delete all cookies, some features of our websites,ipad mini 2 case, such as remembering your login details, or the site branding for your local newspaper may not function as a result.<br><br>The types of cookies we, our ad network and technology partners use are listed below:<br><br>Revenue Science A tool used by some of our advertisers to target adverts to you based on pages you have visited in the past. To opt out of this type of targeting you can visit the 'Your Online Choices' website by clicking here.<br><br>Google Ads Our sites contain advertising from Google; these use cookies to ensure you get adverts relevant to you. You can tailor the type of ads you receive by visiting here or to opt out of this type of targeting you can visit the 'Your Online Choices' website by clicking here.<br><br>Webtrends / Google Analytics This is used to help us identify unique visitors to our websites. This data is anonymous and we cannot use this to uniquely identify individuals and their usage of the sites.<br><br>Dart for Publishers This comes from our ad serving technology and is used to track how many times you have seen a particular ad on our sites, so that you don't just see one advert but an even spread. This information is not used by us for any other type of audience recording or monitoring.<br><br>ComScore ComScore monitor and externally verify our site traffic data for use within the advertising industry. Any data collected is anonymous statistical data and cannot be traced back to an individual.<br><br>Local Targeting Our Classified websites (Photos, Motors, Jobs and Property Today) use cookies to ensure you get the correct local newspaper branding and content when you visit them. These cookies store no personally identifiable information.<br><br>Grapeshot We use Grapeshot as a contextual targeting technology, allowing us to create custom groups of stories outside out of our usual site navigation. Grapeshot stores the categories of story you have been exposed to. Their privacy policy and opt out option can be accessed here.<br><br>Subscriptions Online Our partner for Newspaper subscriptions online stores data from the forms you complete in these to increase the usability of the site and enhance user experience.<br><br>Add This Add This provides the social networking widget found in many of our pages. This widget gives you the tools to bookmark our websites, blog, share, tweet and email our content to a friend.<br><br>3rd Party Cookies We use Advertising agencies to provide us with some of the advertising on our websites. These include (but are not limited to) Specific Media, The Rubicon Project, AdJug, AdConion, Context Web. Please click on the provider name to visit their opt out page.

Cases of deadly C diff soar in Scottish hospitals<br><br>Figures reveal that between July and September last year, rates of the bug increased by 19 per cent in patients over 65 compared to the previous three months. Levels in younger patients  aged 15 to 65  were up 35 per cent, according to Health Protection Scotland (HPS).<br><br>It follows previous sharp declines in C difficile, which had been falling since 2008.<br><br>HPS said the reason for the rise in cases was unknown, but that it might be linked to the inappropriate use of antibiotics, which can increase the risk of the bug taking hold, and failures in infection control. The Scottish Government pointed to large falls in C difficile in recent years, as well as figures showing MRSA cases dropping to their lowest ever level.<br><br>The HPS figures revealed that between July and September, 351 cases of C difficile were recorded in the over 65s  the group most at risk from the infection, which can lead to death in the most serious cases. This amounted to a rate of 40.7 cases per 100,000 hospital bed days, up from 34.2 the previous quarter.<br><br>Ten of Scotland's 14 health boards saw cases increase, with the most significant rise in NHS Highland, where the rate more than doubled. The board is monitoring the increase through a new action group, the report said. Most boards also saw rising rates compared to the previous 12 months. Among patients under 65, the rate of cases increased from 32.4 per 100,000 bed days to 43.9 in July to September, with rates up in 11 health boards compared to the previous quarter. Most boards also had higher incidence rates compared to the previous 12 months, particularly Lanarkshire, Lothian and Tayside.<br><br>However, HPS also pointed out that levels overall in 2012/13 were down almost 8 per cent for over 65s compared to 2011/12, while they were down over 11 per cent in the younger group.<br><br>The report said a pattern of rising rates in the third quarter of the year had been seen, though it was not clear why this happened. HPS added: "It is unknown what is driving the increase in numbers but this may be related to inappropriate prescribing and/or failure to implement and sustain infection prevention and control measures."<br><br>The Scottish Government said the figures showed that the number of people contracting C difficile had "dramatically" fallen by 80 per cent since records began in 2007, despite the rise in the last three months. The figures also revealed that levels of MRSA were at a record low, with a 17 per cent drop in cases between July to September compared to the previous quarter. Just 29 cases were reported.<br><br>Health secretary Alex Neil said: "With this good practice firmly in place we want to remind staff, patients and visitors that they all have a role to play in making sure good standards of cleanliness and hand hygiene are maintained."<br><br>This website and its associated newspaper adheres to the Press Complaints Commission Code of Practice. If you have a complaint about editorial content which relates to inaccuracy or intrusion, then contact the Editor by clicking here.<br><br>If you remain dissatisfied with the response provided then you can contact the PCC by clicking here.<br><br>The Scotsman provides news, events and sport features from the Edinburgh area. For the best up to date information relating to Edinburgh and the surrounding areas visit us at The Scotsman regularly or bookmark this page.<br><br>Cookies are small data files which are sent to your browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome etc) from a website you visit. They are stored on your electronic device.<br><br>This is a type of cookie which is collected by Adobe Flash media player (it is also called a Local Shared Object)  a piece of software you may already have on your electronic device to help you watch online videos and listen to podcasts.<br><br>Yes there are a number of options available, you can set your browser either to reject all cookies, to allow only "trusted" sites to set them, or to only accept them from the site you are currently on.<br><br>However, please note  if you block/delete all cookies, some features of our websites,ipad mini 2 case, such as remembering your login details, or the site branding for your local newspaper may not function as a result.<br><br>The types of cookies we, our ad network and technology partners use are listed below:<br><br>Revenue Science A tool used by some of our advertisers to target adverts to you based on pages you have visited in the past. To opt out of this type of targeting you can visit the 'Your Online Choices' website by clicking here.<br><br>Google Ads Our sites contain advertising from Google; these use cookies to ensure you get adverts relevant to you. You can tailor the type of ads you receive by visiting here or to opt out of this type of targeting you can visit the 'Your Online Choices' website by clicking here.<br><br>Webtrends / Google Analytics This is used to help us identify unique visitors to our websites. This data is anonymous and we cannot use this to uniquely identify individuals and their usage of the sites.<br><br>Dart for Publishers This comes from our ad serving technology and is used to track how many times you have seen a particular ad on our sites, so that you don't just see one advert but an even spread. This information is not used by us for any other type of audience recording or monitoring.<br><br>ComScore ComScore monitor and externally verify our site traffic data for use within the advertising industry. Any data collected is anonymous statistical data and cannot be traced back to an individual.<br><br>Local Targeting Our Classified websites (Photos, Motors, Jobs and Property Today) use cookies to ensure you get the correct local newspaper branding and content when you visit them. These cookies store no personally identifiable information.<br><br>Grapeshot We use Grapeshot as a contextual targeting technology, allowing us to create custom groups of stories outside out of our usual site navigation. Grapeshot stores the categories of story you have been exposed to. Their privacy policy and opt out option can be accessed here.<br><br>Subscriptions Online Our partner for Newspaper subscriptions online stores data from the forms you complete in these to increase the usability of the site and enhance user experience.<br><br>Add This Add This provides the social networking widget found in many of our pages. This widget gives you the tools to bookmark our websites, blog, share, tweet and email our content to a friend.<br><br>3rd Party Cookies We use Advertising agencies to provide us with some of the advertising on our websites. These include (but are not limited to) Specific Media, The Rubicon Project, AdJug, AdConion, Context Web. Please click on the provider name to visit their opt out page.