Too many bacterial infections in hospitals - report

There have been more healthcare-associated bacterial infections at Shropshire's two main hospitals in the last financial year than there should have been, health bosses will be told.

The board of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) will be told that targets for MRSA, C. diff, E.coli, klebsiella and pseudomonas have been broken "as infrastructure and resourcing constraints persist".

A report containing the figures will be presented at a meeting on Thursday.

It says that limited isolation facilities, a lack of space to move patients to, and restricted deep-cleaning capacity are "extreme risks" on the infection prevention and control register.

The report says the trust "continues to review all cases through investigations to identify any potential lapses in care or any common themes that may have contributed to the infection."

"All cases have been reviewed, most common contributing factors identified and an action plan created."

• There were five cases of MRSA against a target of zero

• There were 132 C. diff cases - the target is 98, and 38 were recorded from January to March 2026

• The target for E.coli cases is 146, and there were 172 cases recorded

• The target for klebsiella is 36, and there were 54 cases

• There were 18 cases of pseudomonas versus a target of 16

The board will be told that there was progress in potentially using the antibiotic Fidaxomicin as first-line treatment of C. diff, which would reduce the risk of onward transmission to others.

SaTH said 33 cases of C. diff were likely to have been caused by inappropriately prescribed antibiotics.

An action plan is also being drawn up to reduce MRSA, MSSA, E.coli, pseudomonas and klebsiella.

There are also plans in development for a deep clean in 2026-27.

The report also investigates Covid and flu incidents.

There was one confirmed case of measles at the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford in January 2026, but it involved a child who was too young to be vaccinated, it said.

No further cases were identified.

It added that an issue with staff immunity data was also identified and work was in progress to "allow controlled access of immunity data."

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