A campaign has helped York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust achieve the lowest rates of C-difficile of all district general hospitals in England for 2009/10.

The Health Protection Agency’s data, collected through the National Surveillance Scheme for C-difficile in England, show 0.27 cases of hospital-attributed C-difficile per 1,000 bed days at the Trust.

Only specialist hospitals with a lower-risk mix of patients saw lower rates.

The hospital’s C difficile rates have fallen steadily over the last three years following a campaign across all clinical areas to reduce the number of cases.

All staff have focussed on providing a clean environment for patients, and on ensuring prompt isolation and effective management of cases of suspected infective diarrhoea.

A revised antibiotic policy, introduced in 2008, has also made a significant impact against C difficile by promoting prudent use of antibiotics and minimising the use of high risk drugs. Dr Neil Todd, head of microbiology services for the York Trust, said: “Our hospital recognises the challenge of building on this high level of infection prevention performance, and we cannot afford to be complacent.

“We continue to develop initiatives to improve our performance further.”

The number of C-difficile cases at the Trust has fallen from 129 in the 2007/08 to 28 in 2009/10. There have been 17 cases since April 2010 to date.