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Link: Bugged By Mrsa Snub
HEALTH campaigners have criticised NHS bosses for ignoring technology which could help Lewisham Hospital solve its MRSA problem.
Earlier this year the hospital, in Lewisham High Street, trialled a groundbreaking technique designed to eliminate dangerous infections from its wards.
But now the Department of Health is refusing to invest in the equipment, which would cost each hospital around �100,000 a year to run, despite a thumbs-up from hospital bosses.
The technique, developed by Hampshire-based research firm Bioquell, involves emptying wards of patients, sealing all doors and windows and installing a series of machines.
The machines then pump out a mist of hydrogen peroxide, which kills bacteria without damaging any hospital materials.
In June, a Healthcare Commission survey revealed Lewisham was the fourth-worst hospital in the country for MRSA, with 60 recorded cases between April last year and March this year.
Lewisham Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Forum chairman Alan Hall said: "If the hospital says this technique works I don't understand why it can't continue to use it.
Link: This Is Local London
Three patients have caught a superbug in Kingston Hospital's intensive care unit, forcing staff to keep new patients in isolation while the area was fully decontaminated. The hospital has confirmed that in recent weeks there has been a cluster of cases of Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus (VRE), a form of antibiotic-resistant bacterium that may cause infection to already seriously ill patients. One reader, worried about a relative in the unit, said: "I asked one of the nurses why the unit was so empty and she told me it was because of a superbug. She did not tell me what it was but said it was not MRSA." New admissions to the unit were accommodated in isolation rooms after the bug was detected, and the intensive care unit had to be intensively cleaned and disinfected. A hospital spokeswoman said: "Over the weekend the area underwent full bio-decontamination using the latest technology, tested and approved by the new rapid review panel for NHS technology." The unit was sprayed with hydrogen peroxide vapour which creates a fog that covers the whole area, killing any germs. The hydrogen peroxide was then extracted by a machine that ensures that the environment is safe for immediate re-use.
A short introduction from Dave Roberts
This 12 minute introduction will help you grasp the key facts and the key issues surrounding drug resistant staph aureus (mersa, mursa)
