Reducing the risk of catheter-related urinary tract infection.

It is estimated that 10-12 per cent of hospital patients and four per cent of patients in the community have a urinary catheter at any one time (Stamm, 1998). Urinary tract infections (UTIs) account for almost half of all health care-associated infection (HAI), and a significant number of these infections are related to the insertion of urinary catheters (Pratt et al, 2001). Recent research has estimated that a patient who has a catheter for 20 days is almost certain to develop a catheter-related UTI and that the cost of treatment of UTI is estimated as being 1,327 pounds sterling per patient (Roadhouse and Wellsted, 2004). Plowman et al (1999) have estimated that a UTI can extend the length of a patient's stay in hospital by six days.