Caesarean Section Wound Infection
The Trust contributes to the PHA Regional Caesarean Section (C-Section) Wound Infection
Surveillance Programme. This involves the follow up of mothers with Caesarean section
wounds including those who have been discharged from hospital.
The table below outlines the average infection rates in 2018 and 2019 (calendar years).
Facts & Figures
• Clinical teams will continue to review infections to ensure any learning is shared
• Work with Public Health Agency to introduce an electronic method of reporting infections
which will reduce workload for clinical staff as they are required to report infection using
a paper form. This was not progressed last year due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
NEXT STEPS
2018 2019
Average Trust C-Section wound
infection rate (inpatient)
0.4% 0.44%
Average Northern Ireland
C-Section wound infection rate
(inpatient)
0.2% 0.13%
Average Trust post-discharge
C-Section infection rate
6.0% 4.2%
Average Northern Ireland postdischarge C-Section infection
rate
6.0% 5.4%
Although there has been a fall in the number of mothers being readmitted with C-Section wound
infection regionally, the Trust has noted a slight increase compared with last year. Review of
cases would indicate that for the majority there were underlying risk factors. None were thought
to be linked to transmission in hospital. On review of the overall Trust C-Section post-discharge
infection rate, this has fallen from the previous year to below the Northern Ireland regional
average.
(Thanks for PHA colleagues for helping with the validation of the figures which were correct
at time of publication).
Table 1: Trust and Regional C-Section wound infections reported in 2018 and 2019
Goal 3: Measuring the Improvement
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