Poor hand hygiene blamed for baby deaths

The deaths of two premature infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of University Hospital of North Staffordshire is being blamed on poor hand hygiene.

Jessica Strong was born at twenty-six weeks and tragically passed away after she developed Serratia marcescens. Another infant also died as a result of the infection, while an additional six infants had the bacteria but were not severely affected. As a result of the infection, the neonatal unit was closed for two weeks for a deep cleaning.

Serratia marcesens is a bacteria commonly found in the digestive tract. While it is not uncommon for it to be on hands, the neonatal unit has strict hand washing protocols in place to protect fragile babies. A breakdown of this protocol may have led to the bacteria being introduced to the NICU.

The hospital’s infection control nurse, Emyr Phillips, believes that poor hand hygiene along with extreme prematurity caused Jessica’s death. "Clearly there has been a breakdown in hand hygiene practice but we will never know exactly how the spread of infection occurred," he said.

As a result, the trust has admitted clinical negligence in the case. Jessica’s parents, Craig and Annette Strong, are making a legal claim for compensation against the trust.

Since Jessica’s death, the hospital has hired additional infection control nurses and conducted a full review of its hygiene policy.

Mrs Strong had this to say about the hospital’s actions: "I believe that the infection has been spread by a member of staff, there's no way one parent could've contracted it and passed it on to six other babies. It shouldn't have taken two deaths to have the new hygiene steps put in place, it's disgraceful and upsetting."

The investigation into the second death is still pending, but the hospital is expected to acknowledge clinical negligence in that case as well.