MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release
September 17 , 2013
LONDON, Ontario – The Alert Level Two for C. difficile called August 27 at University Hospital, 4IP - General Medicine - was cleared last night in keeping with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care's criteria for public reporting.
“I’d like to thank staff and visitors for exercising extra vigilance around hand hygiene compliance as we worked through this alert,” says Michael John, Medical Director, Infection Prevention and Control.
“Over the past year, many successful initiatives have been implemented to further improve our infection safety rates at London Health Sciences Centre and we will be continuing with aggressive measures to prevent further C. difficile transmission.”
An Alert Level Two/Outbreak is called in collaboration with the Middlesex-London Health Unit when there are three or more cases of hospital C. difficile identified on a specific unit. It is cleared after 30 days if no new cases present.
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About London Health Sciences Centre
London Health Sciences Centre has been at the forefront of medicine in Canada for 138 years and offers the broadest range of specialized clinical services in Ontario. Building on the traditions of its founding hospitals to provide compassionate care in an academic teaching setting, London Health Sciences Centre is home to Children’s Hospital, University Hospital, Victoria Hospital, the Kidney Care Centre, two family medical centres, and two research institutes – Children’s Health Research Institute and Lawson Health Research Institute. As a leader in medical discovery and health research, London Health Sciences Centre has a history of over 65 international and national firsts and attracts top clinicians and researchers from around the world. As a regional referral centre, London Health Sciences Centre cares for the most medically complex patients including critically injured adults and children in southwestern Ontario and beyond. The hospital’s nearly 15,000 staff, physicians, students and volunteers provide care for more than one million patient visits a year. For more information visit www.lhsc.on.ca
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Scot Magnish
Corporate Communications and Public Relations
London Health Sciences Centre
519-685-8500, ext. 77062
scot.magnish@lhsc.on.ca
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