CLOSTRIDIUM DIFFICILE AND PREBIOTICS

That this House acknowledges the potential of prebiotics to prevent clostridium difficile in a clinical setting, thereby improving patient experience and saving NHS resources; notes that clostridium difficile remains a serious problem in the UK with 6,342 cases reported by English primary care organisations in the first quarter of 2010 alone; fears that more cases may go unreported; believes that prevention must accompany treatment and containment if the number of infections is to be substantially reduced; further acknowledges that the cost to the NHS of one clostridium difficile infection is calculated to exceed 4,000, while a course of prebiotics costs under 10 a month; recognises that clostridium difficile infection is caused by antibiotics depleting a patient's beneficial gut bacteria, which prebiotics have been shown to promote; calls attention to the difference between prebiotics and probiotics, noting the greater efficacy of the former in promoting gut health; recommends that the Government considers the use of prebiotic food supplements in hospitals, nursing homes and clinics; and supports a pilot of prebiotics in a clinical setting in the UK.