Centre for Clinical Infection and Diagnostics Research, Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.
J Hosp Infect. 2012 Jul;81(3):156-62. doi: 10.1016/j.jhin.2012.04.020. Epub 2012 Jun 1.
Litigation costs resulting from clinical negligence claims involving healthcare-associated infections are a significant but underappreciated cost to healthcare organizations. In England these claims are handled on behalf of the National Health Service (NHS) organizations by the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA). The total number of claims and the amounts awarded have increased significantly in recent years.
To determine whether the recent significant reductions in meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bloodstream infection (BSI) and Clostridium difficile infections in England have had an effect on the number and value of NHSLA claims relating to these infections.
Data obtained from the NHSLA relating to claims mentioning C. difficile or MRSA from 2003 to 2010 were correlated with mandatory surveillance data from the Health Protection Agency for these infections.
The rate of NHSLA claims for MRSA has decreased in line with reductions in BSI for this infection (0.007 per BSI between 2003/4-2006/7 to 0.0017 per BSI between 2007/8 and 2010/11), but there was no significant change in claims relating to C. difficile infection. Overall the amounts awarded for successful claims have decreased significantly from a total of £76,846 for the period 1997/8-2006/7 to £24,821 for the period 2007/8-2010/11.
The number of litigation claims involving MRSA has recently decreased significantly in line with surveillance data. There was no observed effect on claims involving C. difficile. The amounts awarded for successful claims for both infections have also fallen, although the reasons for this are not clear.
涉及医疗保健相关感染的临床疏忽索赔所产生的诉讼费用是医疗保健组织的一项重大但未被充分认识到的成本。在英国，这些索赔由国民保健服务（NHS）组织的国民保健服务诉讼局（NHSLA）代表处理。近年来，索赔的总数和判给的金额显著增加。
确定英格兰耐甲氧西林金黄色葡萄球菌（MRSA）血流感染（BSI）和艰难梭菌感染的近期显著减少是否对与这些感染相关的 NHSLA 索赔的数量和价值产生影响。
从 NHSLA 获得的与 2003 年至 2010 年期间提到艰难梭菌或 MRSA 的索赔相关的数据与卫生保护局对这些感染的强制性监测数据相关联。
NHSLA 对 MRSA 的索赔率与这种感染的 BSI 减少相一致（2003/4-2006/7 期间每 100 例 BSI 为 0.007，2007/8 至 2010/11 期间为每 100 例 BSI 为 0.0017），但与艰难梭菌感染相关的索赔没有显著变化。总体而言，成功索赔的判给金额从 1997/8-2006/7 期间的 76846 英镑总额显著下降到 2007/8-2010/11 期间的 24821 英镑。
涉及 MRSA 的诉讼索赔数量最近与监测数据显著减少。与艰难梭菌感染相关的索赔没有观察到影响。这两种感染的成功索赔判给金额也有所下降，尽管原因尚不清楚。
