An audit of activities for controlling hospital-acquired infection has provided valuable data about hospital's own infection rates

AN AUDIT OF activities to control hospital-acquired infections was recently carried out in 19 hospitals in England and Wales. This included surveillance to estimate the incidence of certain infections occurring in patients admitted to four main specialties over a one year period, and a shorter audit of all infections acquired in intensive care units. The audit data were collected by specially appointed nurses who worked with the infection control teams of the partner hospitals.