As Toronto hospitals struggle with so-called superbug strains of infections, hospitals across the country will soon have to report the rates of infection if they are to receive national accreditation.
A report in The Globe and Mail on Saturday said the Canadian Council on Health Services Accreditation will require hospitals and nursing homes to provide rates of methicillin-resistant Clostrodium difficile (C. difficile) and Staphylococcus aureus before receiving credentials from the organization.
A Staphylococcus aureus outbreak prompted officials at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre neonatal ward - located in the Women's College Hospital downtown - to close its doors.
The unit has stopped accepting premature babies born at other hospitals. It has also stopped taking high-risk pregnancy transfers from other neonatal units.
Two GTA hospitals have also been working to contain outbreaks of C. difficile infections.
In late February small groups of patients at Scarborough Hospital's General Division and the Trillium Health Centre in Mississauga became infected with C. difficile.
Last year, a committee set up by Ontario's chief coroner found that C. difficile was behind 10 deaths at a Sault Ste. Marie hospital. The committee investigated 26 deaths, which were thought to be related to the bacterial infection.
Last week officials at Barrie's Royal Victoria Hospital launched an investigation into whether any recent patient deaths could be linked to C. difficile. Since January, 43 people at the facility have been diagnosed with the bacterium.
All hospitals have been taking extra precautions designed to limit the spread of the bacterium.
Precautions have also been taken by Sunnybrook to limit the spread of Staphylococcus aureus within the neonatal unit. The hospital said no other services have been affected.
Requiring hospitals to track rates of infections to receive accreditation is an important thing to do, according to the Canadian Council on Health Services Accreditation's president and CEO.
"When you look at SARS and you look at concerns of pandemic flu, it's important we put a stronger emphasis on infection prevention and control," Wendy Nicklin told the Globe.
While accreditation is voluntary, 99 per cent of acute-care hospitals, as well as nursing homes and other facilities participate in the program. Some 3,750 sites of 923 organizations are accredited by the council, the newspaper reported.
Newborns could be moved
Mothers and babies that need the intensive care provided by Sunnybrook's neonatal ward may be sent to hospitals throughout southwestern Ontario.
In Toronto, many may be taken care of at Mount Sinai or the Hospital for Sick Children. But others may have to travel to facilities in Hamilton, London or Kingston due to the lack of available space created by the Staphylococcus aureus outbreak.
"Hopefully they won't (have to travel that far), but only time will tell," Dr. Mary Vearncombe, Sunnybrook's director of infection control told the Toronto Star.
The other hospitals are preparing to receive babies that cannot be admitted to Sunnybrook.
The staph outbreak started inside the neonatal unit in January.
Twelve infants who have been diagnosed with the infection are isolated from others and being cared for by a separate team of physicians and nurses. The children are reportedly responding well to treatment for the infection.
It is not known how long the neonatal intensive care unit will be closed.
