Severe infection seeing 'significant rise' in part of Merseyside

A bacterial infection is seeing a "significant rise" in Wirral that can lead to "debilitating" diarrhoea as health officials warned the situation was unacceptable as it becomes "business as usual" in hospitals. Despite plans to tackle the issue, they said numbers were still going in the wrong direction.

A quality and performance report published ahead of a Wirral Place Based Partnership Board said there was risk related to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Clostridium difficile (C.difficile). The report said there had been “a significant rise with a total of 19 cases.”

15 of these were in the hospital and four infections were out in the community. Community transmission however saw a significant decrease with a single case in September 2024. NHS England have also offered support as Wirral is considered an outlier.

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C.difficile is a bacteria that can cause diarrhoea and often affects people taking antibiotics. Common symptoms include diarrhoea, a high temperature, loss of appetite, feeling sick, and a stomach ache.”

The bacteria often lives harmlessly in the stomach but when taking antibiotics this can cause an infection and can spread to other people easily. The NHS urges people to contact NHS 111 or seek an urgent GP appointment if you have diarrhoea and you're taking or have recently taken antibiotics, you have bloody diarrhoea or bleeding from the bottom, or you have diarrhoea for more than 7 days.

The NHS says you are more likely to get an infection if you are:

• You're over 65 years

• You're taking, or have recently taken, antibiotics

• You're staying in hospital or a care home for a long time

• You have a weakened immune system – for example, from having a long-term condition like diabetes or kidney failure, or treatment like chemotherapy

• You're taking a proton pump inhibitor (PPI), such as omeprazole, or other medicines that reduce stomach acid

• You've had a C. diff infection in the past

At the meeting on November 21, Lorna Quigley, Associate Director of Quality and Safety Improvement for NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, said that while they had a strategy and plan to manage the spread of the infection in September, it was still being implemented. She said: “We are seeing the numbers still going the wrong way,” adding they were taking things seriously.

She said: “People with C.difficile don’t just get diarrhoea. People are debilitated through this so we absolutely need to get this right.” Wirral Council’s public health director Dave Bradburn said there had been a focus to tackle the issue but was concerned about the rise in cases and said the situation was not acceptable.

Cllr Simon Mountney asked whether it was impacting hospitals. In response, Ms Quigley said it was “becoming business as usual that our hospital is used to managing this.”

She said hospitals were managing it by putting infected patients together and closing part of the ward off but hospitals were not having to close off multiple wards. Later in the meeting, she said: “There’s no winners in this. It’s not a situation we should be tolerating.”

However Cllr Mountney said: “We can’t accept that we’ve been doing it for some time and therefore it's the norm. If we lose a ward in the hospital and those people who would normally be in hospital are discharged to the council, that could cost us quite a lot of money.

“I think trying to focus on the hospital and opening all the wards to those who need emergency or necessary care in a hospital is quite important. It’s always been like that isn’t really what I could accept.”

Dr David Jones asked about what investigations were being done into cases, adding: “We just seem to be getting the same figures and don’t seem to be making any progress.” Ms Quigley said the Wirral population was more vulnerable to infection or elderly.

The board also looked at the state of finances in health services locally with a significant budget gap expected to be nearly £29m. Wirral Place director for the Cheshire and Merseyside ICB Simon Banks said the NHS had previously been able to go over budget in certain areas if money could be found in areas that were under.

However he said the current situation in the NHS now meant that was no longer possible. It was also raised that primary care, which includes GP services, could be losing £700,000 of funding which Dr David Jones described as “defunding primary care” though the exact figure was disputed.

Gareth Prytherch, the CEO of Wirral CVS which supports charities, also said it was going to be challenging for voluntary, community, and faith organisations, adding: “The numbers are looking quite frightening at the moment. We’re looking at something like £17.5m black hole across the city region.

"£3.5m across Wirral in terms of just in the sector and that’s just pressure around the employers NI (national insurance) so from our point of view, we are more than happy to be involved in those processes." He said he understood the challenges on both sides.

Following the debate, Associate Director of Finance for the ICB Martin McDowell called for the board to bring back a report of the cost of the government’s National Insurance rises and the cost of delivering the national wage increases.