CASES of a potentially deadly hospital superbug are likely to increase because of more thorough tests.

‘Dual testing’ for clostridium difficile or c.diff was introduced this month across Worcestershire hospitals following a change of national policy.

There will now be two stool tests for c.diff instead of just one which is likely to increase positive results in the laboratory by between 40 and 100 per cent.

The bug causes severe diarrhoea and abdominal pain and can be life-threatening among vulnerable and elderly patients. The tests, which are likely to cost the trust an extra £36,000 a year, were discussed at a meeting of Worcestershire Acute Hosp-itals NHS Trust.

Helen Blanchard, director of nursing and midwifery, said improved testing without a corresponding relaxation of the c.diff target may mean the trust does not stay within its threshold of under 81 cases of c.diff this year. So far, there have only been 42 cases, 11 cases within the trajectory for this point in the year. However, a 50 per cent increase in the number of cases identified because of the dual testing would take the total for the year to about 100 cases, meaning the trust would fail its target.

Mrs Blanchard said: “We have done extremely well in reducing the number of patients who have c.diff. It is soul-destroying to have an unrealistic target.”

Dr Mark Goldman, interim chief executive, said the same issue faced other hospital trusts as it was a target set nationally and it was likely that the target would be adjusted. Dual testing is recognised as a step forward because it is more accurate and better identifies patients who have c.diff.

The tests are also more likely to identify “false positives”, people who were thought to have the infection following the initial test but were found to be clear following the second one, reducing the need to treat people unnecessarily, reducing costs.

However, Mrs Blanchard said a patient who tested negative but still displayed symptoms would still receive treatment.

l Your Worcester News reporter was the only member of the media to attend this meeting.