Easy read information for patients and visitors. What is clostridium difficile? Clostridium difficile is a germ.

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1 Clostridium difficile Easy read information for patients and visitors What is clostridium difficile? Clostridium difficile is a germ. Clostridium difficile is also known as C diff. A small number of the C diff germs can live in your bowel. If there are lots of C diff germs in your bowel they can make you ill. How do you get C diff? Most people get C diff when they are taking antibiotics. Antibiotics are medicines used to treat infections. Page 1 of 7

2 How do you get C diff? Sometimes taking antibiotics can change the number of germs living in your bowel. This means that lots of C diff germs can grow in your bowel. This makes you ill. How will you know that you have C diff? C diff causes diarrhoea. Some people also get a pain in their stomach. What is diarrhoea? If you have diarrhoea your poo is very watery when you go to the toilet. You might have to go to the toilet a lot. Your poo might smell worse than normal. This is called diarrhoea. Page 2 of 7

3 How will you know that you have C diff? When you have C diff diarrhoea can last for days. It sometimes lasts for weeks. How will you be looked after? You will be moved to a side room. This is so other patients do not catch C diff germs. When doctors and nurses look after you they will wash their hands. When doctors and nurses look after you they will wear gloves and an apron. Page 3 of 7

4 Can visitors catch C diff? Most healthy people will not catch C diff. Visitors should still be careful. If a visitor is helping to look after you a doctor or nurse will give them gloves and an apron to wear. Visitors should always wash their hands with soap and water when they leave. They should not use alcohol gel to clean their hands. Alcohol gel will not kill C diff germs. Page 4 of 7

5 What will we do to make you better? If your diarrhoea does not get better you might get a different medicine. Tell a doctor or nurse if you keep having diarrhoea. How can you help yourself to get better? Always wash your hands with soap and water when you eat and drink go to the toilet. Page 5 of 7

6 What happens when you stop having diarrhoea? You will wait 3 days to make sure you are better. After 3 days you will be able to join the other patients. What happens if you have diarrhoea again? Sometimes diarrhoea can start again. If your diarrhoea comes back in hospital tell a doctor or nurse. If your diarrhoea comes back at home tell your doctor. What if you need more information? If you have any questions you can speak to your doctor or nurse. You can telephone the infection prevention and control team on Thanks to Paul and Anna from Winlaton Community Base for being in the photographs. Other photographs have been taken from the NHS photo library. Page 6 of 7

7 How we use and look after your personal information Any personal information about you is kept private. Personal information is things like: the reason you are in hospital your name your address your phone number your date of birth There might be times when we need to share your information with other people working in the hospital. This is to make sure you get the best care. Sometimes we need to share information about you with people working outside of the hospital. When this happens we do our best to make sure any personal information is removed. You can find out more in our easy read leaflet called How we use and look after your personal information. You can find the leaflet on our website under easy read. You can get a copy from the PALS office in the main entrance of the hospital. Information Leaflet: No 10 Version: 1 Title: Clostridium difficile easy read information for patients and visitors First Published: March 2012 Last Reviewed: N/A Review Date: March 2014 Author: Christine Atkinson and Carole Griffiths This leaflet can be made available in other languages and formats upon request Page 7 of 7