A new study shows that some 7,500 hospital associated infection (HAI) incidents take place across NHS Scotland every year, at an estimated cost of £46.4m.

The findings come in research published by Glasgow Caledonian University following the first comprehensive study of its kind of the full impact of HAIs on patients and the NHS in Scotland.

The Scottish government, which commissioned the investigation, says the findings will help the ongoing work to prevent infections and improve patient treatment.

The ECONI (Evaluation of Cost of Nosocomial Infection) study showed that urinary tract infections were the most common, followed by blood infections, infections of the lower respiratory tract, gastrointestinal infections, surgical site infection and pneumonia.

Most infections were caused by E. coli, staphylococcus aureus and Norovirus, with the highest risk being to patients in intensive care, renal medicine and cardiothoracic surgery.

The findings, published in the Journal of Hospital Infection, show that the overall risk of a patient picking up an infection in a Scottish hospital are low, with just over one in every 100 patients (1.1%) developed a HAI, less than previous estimates and an incidence rate of 3% more widely across Europe.

Glasgow Caledonian University Professor Jacqui Reilly, who led the investigation, says the findings will support the continuing infection prevention and control (IPC) strategies across Scotland’s hospitals:

“The research highlights the importance of personalised IPC - risk assessing each patient on admission to mitigate risks of acquiring an infection during the hospital stay, in addition supporting decisions on which HAI should be focussed nationally in programmes on the basis of incidence and cost, such as bloodstream infections and pneumonia.”

The Scottish Government, who commissioned the study, welcomed the findings.

Scotland’s Associate Chief Nursing Officer, Irene Barkby, says the results will help the NHS prevent infections and improve patient treatment:

“This is the most comprehensive study of the incidence and impact of HAIs carried out in the UK for over 20 years and the first of its kind in Scotland.

“The Scottish Government commissioned this internationally significant work to ensure we continue to lead the way in making sure hospitals are as safe as possible for our patients.

“We have achieved significant reductions in HAI, and this is in part due to improved infection prevention and control processes and good antibiotic prescribing practices in both hospital and community settings.

“The study indicates that HAI incidence is low in Scotland at 1%, but we are not complacent and that is why we will act on this important report.

“The results will help us improve further how we treat HAIs and maximise every opportunity to prevent them – identifying patients most at risk as early as possible and informing work to stop any overuse of antibiotics. As well as protecting patients, reducing HAIs will free up staff resources and reduce waiting times.”

The ECONI study was a collaboration between researchers involved in infection prevention and control, economics and statistics based in the Safeguarding Health through Infection Prevention (SHIP) Research Group, Research Centre for Health (ReaCH) and the Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health at Glasgow Caledonian University; Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Strathclyde, and the Duke NUS Medical School, Singapore.

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