A north London hospital has become the first in the country to receive an official warning for putting patients at risk of infection with super-bugs MRSA and C.difficile.
No budget for training staff. No monitoring of staff to ensure they attend training. Only one microbiologist was in infection control and he was working a mere 4 hours a week! Alcohol gels not provided. No analysis of causes of outbreaks of infection and so on. It comes as little surprise that the primary reasons for the code of conduct being breached are mainly economically inspired.
Last month the Healthcare Commission reported that 99 NHS Trusts admitted failing to meet minimum hygiene standards. It also appears that trusts cannot be relied upon to make their own checks or to honestly admit failures where they occur. It is simply not in their interests of the management to do so. Meanwhile thousands have died unnecessarily every year with many more surviving but suffering blighted lives as a result. 1629 died in 2005 a staggering 30-fold increase since 1993.
Of course the real scandal at the heart of the MRSA crisis is that it is all entirely man made. Ideological. And therefore is both avoidable and reversible. In an effort to avoid the public coming to this conclusion neo-liberal politicians pretend that it is somehow both a recent and natural phenomenon. At regular intervals government and trusts make determined attempts to lay the blame off on patients and visitors bringing the infection in as well as claiming they are ‘winning the battle’ against the bugs.
In reality the way the trusts are run is what makes the rate of infection inevitable. In Britain has been table-topping MRSA leagues in Europe for years. Whereas Denmark and Holland come in at less than 1 per cent, Britain has reached a plateau at around 44%.
Prior to the politically inspired reforms that began with Thatcher and have accelerated under New Labour over the last decade, these apparently insoluble problems were unknown.
Prior to the Thatcher led attack, NHS bed occupancy was approximately 70 out of every 100 beds available, with sufficient nurses on duty to deal with full occupancy. Today the NHS ‘boasts’ an occupancy rate of 100 per cent and sometimes over that. So whereas previously nurses might on average be dealing with 15 patients a day that figure has now risen to 35.
In order to achieve even greater value for money per ward the actual space between beds has also been reduced. This has led to overcrowded wards. Add in more intensive bed use, plus demoralised staff and you begin get the picture. Last but not least in the mix is the nefarious sub-contract cleaner. Now you have the toxic compound that not only guarantees a future for the existing super-bug, but in all probability creates the ideal environment for the emergence of their super-super replacements.
Is it hardly a surprise to discover that senior doctors have begun voting with their feet. A survey by BUPA has revealed that more than half the country’s hospital consultants have already abandoned the NHS in favour of private medical treatment. (Senior doctors avoid being treated on NHS’ Sunday Times 8.7.07).
The 55% figure for senior doctors opting for private insurance is in striking contrast with the general population where just ten per cent (including children) are so covered.
As well as offering single rooms and shorter waiting times private hospitals also advertise far lower rates of MRSA. For now the government claim to have stopped the increase of MRSA (at 44 per cent) if that is, the figures from the trusts can be taken at face value. But the desertion by consultants tells a different story. Is there something they know the rest of us don’t?
A north London hospital has become the first in the country to receive an official warning for putting patients at risk of infection with super-bugs MRSA and C.difficile.
No budget for training staff. No monitoring of staff to ensure they attend training. Only one microbiologist was in infection control and he was working a mere 4 hours a week! Alcohol gels not provided. No analysis of causes of outbreaks of infection and so on. It comes as little surprise that the primary reasons for the code of conduct being breached are mainly economically inspired.
Last month the Healthcare Commission reported that 99 NHS Trusts admitted failing to meet minimum hygiene standards. It also appears that trusts cannot be relied upon to make their own checks or to honestly admit failures where they occur. It is simply not in their interests of the management to do so. Meanwhile thousands have died unnecessarily every year with many more surviving but suffering blighted lives as a result. 1629 died in 2005 a staggering 30-fold increase since 1993.
Of course the real scandal at the heart of the MRSA crisis is that it is all entirely man made. Ideological. And therefore is both avoidable and reversible. In an effort to avoid the public coming to this conclusion neo-liberal politicians pretend that it is somehow both a recent and natural phenomenon. At regular intervals government and trusts make determined attempts to lay the blame off on patients and visitors bringing the infection in as well as claiming they are ‘winning the battle’ against the bugs.
In reality the way the trusts are run is what makes the rate of infection inevitable. In Britain has been table-topping MRSA leagues in Europe for years. Whereas Denmark and Holland come in at less than 1 per cent, Britain has reached a plateau at around 44%.
Prior to the politically inspired reforms that began with Thatcher and have accelerated under New Labour over the last decade, these apparently insoluble problems were unknown.
Prior to the Thatcher led attack, NHS bed occupancy was approximately 70 out of every 100 beds available, with sufficient nurses on duty to deal with full occupancy. Today the NHS ‘boasts’ an occupancy rate of 100 per cent and sometimes over that. So whereas previously nurses might on average be dealing with 15 patients a day that figure has now risen to 35.
In order to achieve even greater value for money per ward the actual space between beds has also been reduced. This has led to overcrowded wards. Add in more intensive bed use, plus demoralised staff and you begin get the picture. Last but not least in the mix is the nefarious sub-contract cleaner. Now you have the toxic compound that not only guarantees a future for the existing super-bug, but in all probability creates the ideal environment for the emergence of their super-super replacements.
Is it hardly a surprise to discover that senior doctors have begun voting with their feet. A survey by BUPA has revealed that more than half the country’s hospital consultants have already abandoned the NHS in favour of private medical treatment. (Senior doctors avoid being treated on NHS’ Sunday Times 8.7.07).
The 55% figure for senior doctors opting for private insurance is in striking contrast with the general population where just ten per cent (including children) are so covered.
As well as offering single rooms and shorter waiting times private hospitals also advertise far lower rates of MRSA. For now the government claim to have stopped the increase of MRSA (at 44 per cent) if that is, the figures from the trusts can be taken at face value. But the desertion by consultants tells a different story. Is there something they know the rest of us don’t?