MRSA, Staph, Staff, Mersa, Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Symptoms & Treatment

End private cleaning in NHS call

Link: BBC NEWS | Health | End private cleaning in NHS call.

Nurses have called for hospital cleaning to be brought back in-house to tackle hospital infections. The Royal College of Nursing conference overwhelmingly voted for a motion proposing an end to contracting out cleaning to private firms. Cleaning contracts have been outsourced since the 1980s and about 40% of hospitals now use the private sector. Nurses at the Bournemouth conference said it had led to a drop in standards and a rise in infections. Ensuring that hospitals are clean and safe is not as simple as bringing all cleaning in-house Department of Health The government has made cleaning one of its highest priorities to tackle infections such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile.

MRSA-label bin bag in hospital corridor

Link: MRSA-label bin bag in hospital corridor - MK News.

A bin bag labelled 'MRSA infected mattress' was left in a hospital corridor for days before being removed. Sam Dancy, visiting her sick husband Michael on Ward 18, took this disturbing picture using her mobile phone. MK News - Mrsa-label bin bag in hospital corridorThe bag was left outside the visitor's toilet for the entire time Mr Dancy was in hospital between February 4 and 7. It comes at a time when public concern for the hospital superbug MRSA remains high. But the hospital says nobody was at risk. The incident is now being investigated. Mrs Dancy, who lives in Stoke Goldington, said: "When we saw this it didn't surprise us really, the hospital is so disorganised.

Wards under fire on cleanliness

Link: BBC NEWS

   A hospital that had complaints about mice has been called "a disgrace" in a critical report by a patient group. The Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital's Public and Patient Involvement Forum said there was "poor cleanliness" when it inspected Clyst and Tavy wards. Two days ago, the hospital was the only one in the region to have increased rates of the superbug MRSA. The hospital said cleanliness was a "high priority" and that issues raised in the report were being addressed.

Unison calls for more cleaners as MRSA rates soar

Link: Public Finance Magazine

   Unison has called on NHS trusts to employ more cleaners after it was revealed that around half of hospitals are falling behind in efforts to cut infections with the MRSA ‘superbug’. Health minister Jane Kennedy said she was disappointed that the incidence of infection with the drug-resistant bacterium had risen to 3,580 in April–September 2005 compared with 3,525 a year earlier. The 20 trusts most likely to miss the target of cutting infections by 50% by 2008 will be visited by teams of hygiene experts. Three trusts — Sandwell, Northumbria and Aintree — had volunteered to be the first to receive help, although they did not have the greatest problems. But Unison’s head of health Karen Jennings urged trusts to get ‘back to basics’, saying: ‘Screening, “swat” teams and targets are all well and good, but cleaners are the frontline troops in the fight against MRSA.

Superbug victims' clean up on screen

Link: CEN News

     TELEVISION viewers will see what happened when victims of MRSA descended on hospitals for an impromptu clean-up.

Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge was one of 10 hospitals across the country visited by around 100 people who had been affected by the superbug.

The hospitals were chosen because of their MRSA rates.

Addenbrooke's was revealed as having the second highest MRSA rate last year for the second year running, although hospital-wide campaigns are ongoing to target it.

As reported in the News last year, BBC Three took a team of volunteers carrying mops and dusters into Addenbrooke's and they began to clean in public areas of the hospital.

At the time, Addenbrooke's said it was "surprised" by the action and had its own systems in place for monitoring cleanliness throughout the hospital. It also described fighting MRSA and other hospital infections as a "long-term commitment".

'An Abattoir Has a Higher Hygiene Ethos

Link: RedOrbit

   VICTIMS of the MRSA superbug have carried out a cleaning blitz on hospitals.

Armed with mops, buckets and dusters, they marched into 10 of the country's worst hit buildings...to show how dirty they really are.

The cleaning corps - former victims of the flesh-eating bug and relatives of patients who have died - were shocked at the levels of filth they found before being thrown out by security staff.

BBC3 reporter Tim Samuels, who organised the mass clean-up for a shock documentary, said: "Mops were covered in filth after just a few minutes."

The teams also visited a slaughterhouse to compare its hygiene standards with hospitals.

After seeing the shock footage, germ expert Professor Hugh Pennington said the abattoir had "a higher ethos of hygiene than the average NHS hospital".

He added: "Anyone could go rolling around in dog muck and then walk into any hospital they like.

"In an abattoir everything is sterilised, nobody can enter without a health certificate from their doctor and, of course, would have to wear protective clothing.

"The majority of the 5,000 deaths from MRSA each year could be prevented if the NHS adopted a more robust approach to cleaning."

Cleaning boss hit by MRSA

Link: The Sun Online

   A FORMER NHS cleaning supervisor has lost a leg — after catching the deadly MRSA superbug in his own hospital.

Dad-of-two Norman Turner, 42, contracted the disease while recovering from a routine operation to replace an artery.

Last night he slammed doctors, nurses and cleaning staff at Blackburn Royal Infirmary, Lancashire, for “appalling” standards of hygiene.

Norman, who worked for 15 years at the hospital — where he helped to train staff to combat MRSA — said: “I was perfectly healthy and strong when I went into hospital and expected to make a full recovery.

“Instead I have been disabled for the rest of my life. I am still in shock, devastated. I came close to dying in intensive care — all because of MRSA.

“The attitude of staff towards cleanliness seems to have dropped to a worrying level.”

Norman spoke out just days after watchdogs found that hygiene guidelines were still being breached at the three main hospitals in the area.

NHS Fail To Meet Cleanliness Checks

Link: NHS Fail To Meet Cleanliness Checks.

  Many English hospitals are failing to meet cleanliness standards, according to a shock report today. As many as two thirds of hospitals failed inspections by the the Healthcare Commission.

The findings are particularly damning as inspectors used unannounced spot checks to test claims that hospitals are getting cleaner. Official league tables are based on self-assessment.

Inspectors concluded that all but 33 hospitals had room for improvement. Some 100 hospitals were inspected.

Some of the worst offenders were psychiatric hospitals and private hospitals.

The investigation failed to find evidence that private contractors were to blame for poor cleanliness. Instead they pointed to overall working relationships, regardless of whether cleaners were employed in-house or not.

Private cleaners not the problem?

Link: NHS Fail To Meet Cleanliness Checks.

  Many English hospitals are failing to meet cleanliness standards, according to a shock report today. As many as two thirds of hospitals failed inspections by the the Healthcare Commission.

The findings are particularly damning as inspectors used unannounced spot checks to test claims that hospitals are getting cleaner. Official league tables are based on self-assessment.

Inspectors concluded that all but 33 hospitals had room for improvement. Some 100 hospitals were inspected.

Some of the worst offenders were psychiatric hospitals and private hospitals.

The investigation failed to find evidence that private contractors were to blame for poor cleanliness. Instead they pointed to overall working relationships, regardless of whether cleaners were employed in-house or not.

Cleaners fired after BBC show

Link: icSolihull

TWO cleaners have been sacked following a recent BBC Panorama programme revealing 'frightening' lapses in cleaning standards at Heartlands Hospital. The three star hospital, which with Solihull Hospital, makes up the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust was shown to break a number of routine rules designed to stop infections. A director at Heartlands Hospital said: "We can confirm that two of the cleaners highlighted in the Panorama programme have since been dismissed by Initial Hospital Services. Initial has assured us that any other staff who appeared in the programme have been disciplined as appropriate and thoroughly re-trained so they meet the high standards we expect here." The programme showed cleaners who the BBC described as "great at making things look clean - without actually cleaning them as they should." The programme makers said they witnessed: "cleaners who routinely break basic rules designed to stop infections spreading; and some medical staff who ignore isolation room procedures and risk spreading serious infection around their hospital."