AN INDEPENDENT investigation is being launched into superbugs at the Royal Bolton Hospital.

Bolton NHS Foundation Trust is failing to control the superbug Clostridium Difficile.

Infection control expert Martin Kiernan has been appointed by the NHS Commissioning Board Greater Manchester Area Team to go into the hospital to see why it is continuing to fail national targets.

Mr Kiernan, the former president at Infection Prevention Society, will look at ways Bolton NHS Foundation Trust can reduce its C Difficile infection levels.

Colin Mercer, clinical director for governance and safety at the Bolton Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “The external review will see if there is anything else we can do to look after infection control.

“We are very concerned about C Difficile in the hospital.”

CCG board papers revealed that the trust has had 65 cases against an annual target of 28 for the last financial year.

The report showed that in February, the trust had six cases when it had planned to have no more than three per month.

It also revealed that the CCG, the trust, the Health Protection Agency and the Strategic Health Authority, have been holding weekly conference calls to talk about the trust’s recovery plan.

At the end of the financial year, the CCG could have fined the trust as much as £4.5 million for missing the C Difficile target.

But CCG chiefs capped the fine at £3.4 million and said the money would be re-invested into the trust.

The CCG has been working with the trust to reduce cases of the superbug and Dee Sissons, chief nurse at the trust, spoke to the board about work they had done to reduce infection levels.

Each case of C Diffile has been analysed by staff so medics, including GPs and community health workers as well as staff at the hospital, can understand the issue.

Other work that has been done to minimise the risk of patients having C difficile includes reviewing antibiotic prescriptions across Bolton to make sure policies are consistent.

Staff are also sharing infection prevention and control messages with patients, visitors and employees.

But GP board member Dr Barry Silvert said they had not been reassured by her.

He added: “I don’t think the presentation by the chief nurse gave us enough assurance that enough was being done to achieve that target and I think we need to have an external review.”

Hospital bosses said they “welcomed” the review.

Heather Edwards, head of communications at the trust, said: “We take infection control very seriously and welcome this review, which has been planned for some months, so we can get a better understanding of the situation.

“We are constantly bringing in additional measures such as introducing hand hygiene champions on each ward and we are aiming to create a decant ward to allow for more intensive cleaning.”

C Difficile causes diarrhoea and can lead to a severe inflammation of the colon. In some cases it can be fatal.