Drive for cleaner hospitals - The Herald

Link: Drive for cleaner hospitals - The Herald.

raffic lights. Housekeepers. The Scottish Executive's latest campaign to improve hygiene and cleanliness in hospitals, announced yesterday, is not short on soundbites. But is there substance behind the headline-making wording? The facts suggest there needs to be if hospitals are to become less of a breeding ground for potentially fatal infections. The so-called "superbug", MRSA, is ruthless in exploiting any weakness in standards of hygiene. It alone kills some 450 people a year in Scotland. Hospitals must be made as dirt-free and hygienic as possible to minimise the risk of patients acquiring infections and speed, not reverse, their recovery. Yesterday's measures intend to make these aims deliverable. Hospitals that fall below NHS standards for cleanliness (less than 70% compliance) will be given a red classification. Those achieving between 70% and 90% compliance will be classified as amber while the cleanest (90%-plus compliance) will be given a green code. The information will be made available to the public, but it is not clear how. The budget for Scotland's 15 health boards to monitor standards and identify where hospitals will find themselves on the traffic-light system is only �100,000. This seems a paltry sum, given the work to be undertaken.