Patient information
Monitoring Surgical Wounds for Infection
Trauma and Orthopaedic Directorate
PIF 1411 / V4
This leaflet explains surgical wound infection and the national
programme for monitoring infections acquired in hospitals.
What are surgical wound infections?
Many micro-organisms (germs) live in, on and around us. Some
germs are good, for example the germs in our gut produce useful
chemicals, and also help to protect us from harmful germs.
Most germs are harmless if they are kept in their own
environment.
Our bodies have natural defences against the few germs which
can cause us harm. For example, our skin prevents germs from
entering the body.
A surgical wound infection can occur when germs enter the
incision (cut) the surgeon makes when carrying out the
operation.
When do these infections develop?
A surgical wound infection can develop at any time until the
wound has healed (usually two to three weeks after the
operation). Very occasionally, an infection can occur several
months after an operation.
Surgical wound infections are uncommon (see table below). Most
surgical wound infections are limited to the skin, but can
occasionally spread to deeper tissues or the joint.
Type of operation
Knee joint replacement
Hip Joint replacement
Average number of infected
wounds per 100 operations*
0.5
1
* Infected wounds detected while a patient is in hospital.
Data source: HPA surveillance of healthcare associated
infections report: 2008
How will my wound be monitored?
During your stay in hospital, the nurse who takes care of you will
look for any signs of infection. If you are concerned about your
wound, speak to the nurse who is looking after you.
Don’t be tempted to remove your dressing, touch your wound or
wound drain as you may accidentally transfer germs from your
fingers to your wound.
Infection can develop after you leave hospital. You may have an
infection if you develop one or more of these symptoms:
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The skin around your wound becomes red, sore or it feels hot
and swollen.
Your wound has a green or yellow coloured discharge (pus)
You feel generally unwell, or have a temperature.
If you have a problem with your wound you should contact the
Emergency Helpline where a nurse will advise you or arrange
for you to be seen in the wound assessment clinic. (Contact
numbers and times are at the end of this leaflet).
Do not take any antibiotics until you have been seen at the
hospital.
The hospital surgical site infection surveillance nurse will contact
you by telephone within four weeks of your discharge to ask if
you have any problems with your wound.
What happens if I develop symptoms?
If the nurse or doctor suspects you have a wound infection, they
may take a sample from the surface of your wound with a swab
and send it to the laboratory for tests
What information do you pass on?
The Royal and Broadgreen hospital pass information about your
operation to the Health Protection Agency which is co-ordinating
the national programme for monitoring surgical site infection. The
information is related to the risk of developing surgical wound
infection. The risk depends on many factors, including the
following.
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Your age and sex
Your general medical condition before the operation.
Type of operation
How long the operation lasted
No information that can be used to identify you, such as
your name, address or postcode, is passed to the Health
Protection Agency.
What happens to the information?
The Health protection agency collects information from 300 NHS
and private hospitals in England who are taking part in the
National programme. The information is used to calculate rates
of surgical wound infection for different types of operations.
Hospitals can then compare their rates to national rates and
decide where they may need to make improvements so that they
can be sure their patients are being given the highest possible
standard of care.
Where can I get further information?
The Health Protection Agency (HPA) is an organisation that is
dedicated to protecting people’s health. It provides impartial and
authoritative information on health protection issues to the public,
to professionals and to government. The HPA website
www.hpa.org.uk has a section on surgical wound infections.
You can find out more about surgical wound infections in the
Guideline on the Prevention and Treatment of Surgical site
infection published by the National institute for Health and
Clinical Excellence in 2008. This can be found online at
www.nice.org.uk.
The NHS choices website www.nhs.uk has information about
your local hospitals
Further Information
Hospital contact numbers
Emergency Helpline
Wound Assessment Nurse
0151 282 6000 Bleep 4199
Textphone number: 18001 0151 282 6000
Bleep 4199
Service available everyday from 07:30 – 20:00
Author: Trauma and Orthopaedic Directorate
Reproduced with permission from the HPA
Review date: May 2016
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