NORTHERN Ireland's health watchdog has warned that superbug targets for a health trust that was at the centre of a deadly outbreak "cannot be managed".
Leaked documents reveal that inspectors at the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) have urged the Northern Health Trust to "lobby" for "more realistic targets".
Confidential minutes seen by The Irish News also show that a leading doctor responsible for infection control at the trust, Dr David Farren, has raised concerns about the ongoing Clostridium Difficile (C Diff) rate - describing it as "above its trajectory".
Six years ago, the troubled organisation experienced the north's biggest ever C Diff outbreak, which was linked to the deaths of 31 patients and resulted in a landmark public inquiry.
While the number of both C Diff and MRSA cases have dropped dramatically across all five health trusts over the past six years there are concerns about the creeping rise in hospital cases.
The Department of Health has set superbug targets for each trust on an individual basis, based on the number of cases they have had the year before.
By contrast, the Welsh government has a "zero tolerance" policy on all hospital infections.
Latest monthly figures from the Public Health Agency show there has been a total of 325 hospital diagnoses of C Diff between April and January this year - of which 55 were in the Northern Trust.
The figures are recorded by financial year, with a total of 310 recorded for the previous 2013/14 year.
There have been 53 MRSA cases between April and January.
Dr Farren's warnings were raised by the Northern Trust's most senior nurse, Olive MacLeod at a high-level meeting among the Nursing Executive Team last month.
A spokeswoman for the trust said Dr Farren was unavailable.
Despite the medic's concerns, however, trust officials insisted in a statement that they are "on target".
A leaked "feedback" report written by the RQIA following its inspection of the Northern Trust warned:
"The (Northern) Trust needs to continue to lobby PHA in relation to MRSA and C Diff targets as these do not accurately reflect what can be managed. The RQIA will support trusts in the settings of more realistic targets."
Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the trust said: "The trust remains fully committed to achieving further reductions in the number of Hospital-Acquired Infections.
"All trust staff maintain high standards of infection control practice, ensuring high standards of environmental cleanliness and careful use of antibiotics."
The RQIA watchdog confirmed that it is carrying out a number of governance inspections.
"During our inspections the trusts have highlighted issues in relation to the classification and interpretation of infection rate information for MRSA and Clostridium difficile. RQIA has recommended that trusts pursue this issue with the Public Health Agency," a spokesman said.