A superbug outbreak that has been linked to more than 50 deaths in Northern Ireland is set to be declared over, Stormont’s Health minister revealed today.
Michael McGimpsey said he was confident that he would soon be in a position to confirm the spread of the Clostridium Difficile infection in the Northern Trust hospitals has been fully contained.
A team of medical experts are currently examining how the outbreak occurred and what preventative measures could be introduced to reduce the risk of a similar incident.
C-diff has been identified as a contributory factor in some 51 patient deaths in the trust area since last year.
Earlier this month the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) review team made a series of recommendations on the back of examining anti-infection policies in Northern Ireland's four other trust areas.
They raised concern about risk factors associated with old hospital buildings and said there was a need for more infection control nurses, microbiologists and antibiotic pharmacists across the region.
The panel, which can not complete its review on the Northern Trust until the outbreak is over, said improved IT practices to record superbug cases were also required.
Mr McGimpsey has so far resisted calls to initiate a full public inquiry into the outbreak.
PA