Healthcare-associated infections: incidence of Clostridium difficile (C. diff)
Indicator
Incidence of healthcare associated infections from Clostridium difficile (C. diff).
Indicator type
Network / system level indicator. The indicator would be appropriate to understand and report on the performance of networks or systems of providers.
This document does not represent formal NICE guidance. For a full list of NICE indicators, see our menu of indicators.
To find out how to use indicators and how we develop them, see our NICE indicator process guide.
Rationale
This overarching indicator is a measure by which resources can be focussed to attempt to reduce the level of healthcare infections in the NHS. NICE's quality standards on surgical site infection and healthcare infection prevention and control highlight a range of quality improvement areas, including use of surveillance.
Source guidance
-
Surgical site infections: prevention and treatment. NICE guideline NG125 (2019, updated 2020)
-
Healthcare-associated infections: prevention and control in primary and community care. NICE guideline CG139 (2012, updated 2017)
-
Healthcare-associated infections: prevention and control. NICE guideline PH36 (2011)
Specification
Numerator: Count of clostridium difficile infections in patients aged 2 and over, by organisation.
Denominator: N/A
Calculation: None; crude number of cases reported.
Definitions: None.
Exclusions: None.
Data source: UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)'s Clostridioides difficile (C difficile) infection (CDI): annual data.
An expected population size cannot be estimated because this indicator has no denominator.
ISBN: 978-1-4731-6824-4