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Link: RedOrbit
THE grieving partner of a North Wales MRSA victim hoped hospital infection rates published yesterday would help battle super bugs. Sheila Whiteside cared for long-term partner John Wardell, 76, a former theatre manager, during more than two years of his condition until he died last December. For the first time, figures for rates of serious bloodstream infections caused by bugs, including MRSA, have been published by the National Public Health Service for Wales. Welsh health chiefs hope publishing the figures will reassure the public, amidst health fears from hospital super bugs. Mr Wardell acquired the MRSA infection - which is resistant to various antibiotics - after a hip replacement operation at Abergele Hospital in 2003. Mrs Whiteside, from Rhyl, campaigned with the group MRSA Support, for a determined health service crackdown against hospital-acquired infections. She said: "I welcome it. I think that the more clarity and honesty there is in the system the better. "Every single case in these figures is a personal disaster. "It is right that they should look at each hospital trust and check that the infection rate is going down. "The more transparency there is, the more likely that patients will be able to ask sensible questions and that they will get sensible answers back."
Link: BBC NEWS
Rates of MRSA in Welsh hospitals have fallen slightly in the past year, according to a new official website. The website, which went live on Friday, allows people to see the how their local hospitals are coping with fighting bloodstream infections. The information is given against a standard rate of 100,000 "bed days". The number of E.coli infections, which includes all types, and not just the potentially deadly 0157 strain, is the highest at 34. MRSA is the fourth most common infection, with an all-Wales rate of 10 per 100,000. However, variations in levels can be explained by the procedures carried out by hospitals, according to the trusts. For example, Velindre NHS Trust in Cardiff, which treats patients with cancer, has an MRSA rate of 30 per 100,000. However, the treatments needed for cancer patients carry a higher risk of infection.
Link: More
It has also emerged that, despite the growing fears over MRSA, Neath Port Talbot Hospital had to be told to get an antibacterial hand wash for its cafe.
Link: RedOrbit
RELATIVES of a North Wales man who contracted killer bug MRSA at a North Wales hospital claimed staff didn't tell them. David Tennant, of Rossett, near Wrexham, died aged 83 in Wrexham Maelor Hospital on October 31 last year. He had bronchial pneumonia caused by MRSA infection. Mary Tennant only learned of her husband's condition from her housekeeper who heard it from a nurse, she said following yesterday's inquest. And Mrs Tennant and her son Graham said in court it was almost impossible to communicate with many of the staff because they had poor English. North East Wales NHS Trust Andy Scotson said Filipino staff were well established at the hospital and he was unaware of any language difficulties. Mr Tennant suffered from failing health for several years but kept working until reaching 80 as a clockmaker and repairer. Speaking after the hearing, Graham Tennant, from Leicester, said he felt "disappointed" with aspects of his father's care. "At no point were we told of the seriousness of my father's condition and at no time were we given any prognosis," he said.
Link: icNorthWales
A NORTH Wales man died almost three years after contracting the killer MRSA bug. An inquest heard how former theatre manager John Wardell caught the deadly infection during a major hip operation at Abergele hospital in May 2003. The keen long-distance walker and his long-term partner Sheila Whiteside were both vocal in their demands for more government action to crackdown on the spread of MRSA. Yesterday a Prestatyn inquest recorded an accidental death verdict on the 76-year-old who lost his fight for life on December 15 at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, Bodelwyddan. Mrs Whiteside has discussed her part-ner's case with Clwyd community health council officers and plans further talks before deciding whether to take legal action against the Conwy and Denbighshire NHS Trust.
Link: Sweeping changes
Sweeping changes are about to be made over the way Swansea's hospitals are scrubbed. The move is part of the fight against potentially fatal bugs such as MRSA. The new multi-million pound contract for domestic and portering services will be decided on Monday at a special meeting of the city's NHS Trust. Four bids were shortlisted, and two have emerged as favourites. But whoever gets the job - the in-house bid or an outside company - cleaning is to be increased in both clinical and public areas. All four bidders had been asked to put forward their offer based on an enhanced cleaning specification.
Link: icNorthWales
THE Welsh Assembly yesterday approved plans to appoint clean hospital "tsars" to fight infections.
The go-ahead was given after health minister Brian Gibbons accepted the proposal in the battle against superbugs like MRSA.
Labour AM for Swansea East Val Lloyd used the Assembly equivalent of a Commons Private Member's Bill to demand health trust directors be given specific responsibilities for cleanliness and hygiene.
These watchdogs would have to report on cleanliness issues to NHS trust boards and community health councils.
She told AMs the quality of patient care was a priority and the public should feel "an uncompromising confidence in our NHS".
Link: icWales - Killer bug in children's hospital.
Suppose you deep clean a hospital and readmit the public. Given that up to 30 per cent are MRSA positive how long before they contaminate surfaces? Seconds, minutes? This type of shock horror story misses the point completly. Short of disinfecting the whole nation and giving out 20 million courses of the treatment that decolonizes people there are always going to be surfaces that have MRSA on them. Wound protection and hand hygiene are key. But the media will still pay for someone to tell them the obvious.
DANGEROUS levels of killer bug MRSA have been found at Wales' brand new �21m children's hospital - just seven weeks after it opened. A Wales on Sunday investigation handled by one of Britain's top super-bug experts discovered massive colonies of MRSA bacteria in the Children's Hospital for Wales, Cardiff. Last night Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, vowed to carry out a top-level probe into our findings. MRSA, short for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is a bacteria that cannot be killed by antibiotics. Our investigation was prompted by the tragic death of Luke Day, the super-bug's youngest victim, who was just 36 hours old when he died of MRSA at Suffolk's Ipswich Hospital in February. We took 10 swabs in public places at the state-of-the-art hospital and sent them to the Chemsol lab in Northampton. The results showed five of the samples turned out to be completely negative. But five contained the super-bug - two at dangerously high levels, which were in the men's toilets and on a lift button on the ground floor. Our expert said it was one of the highest recordings he had seen.
Link: icWales
A DAMNING report on the dirty state of hospital wards has been unveiled by health watchdogs. The catalogue of grime was uncovered following an unannounced spot check and has fuelled fears on the spread of the hospital superbug MRSA. The inspection of wards at Cardiff’s University Hospital of Wales revealed dirty toilets, a widespread covering of dust on furniture and fittings, a chipped sink and pillows lying on the floor. It was also pointed out that a piece of discarded toast had been left lying on the floor for three days. A report of the inspection has been sent to hospital bosses who have admitted that cleaning was not up to standard.
Link: Superbug info coughed up.
THE SUPERBUG MRSA was considered a factor in the deaths of six patients treated at Withybush Hospital last year, the Mercury can reveal. Now, the call is being made for other hospitals to make their statistics known so comparisons can be drawn. Under the new freedom of information act, the Mercury asked Pembrokeshire and Derwen NHS Trust: "How many deaths were there at Withybush Hospital last year (2004) in which the so-called superbug MRSA was considered a factor?" The Trust came back: "There were seven patients that had blood culture, confirming MRSA bacteraemias. "We have been able to identify from our record systems that six of these patients are now deceased and one is alive." The Trust added that of those six patients, four death certificates make no reference to MRSA as the cause of death. A fifth cause of death is unknown to the Trust.
Link: icNorthWales
PATIENTS at Ysbyty Gwynedd are 14 times more likely to be infected with the hospital superbug than at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, according to figures released yesterday. Statitstics published under the Freedom of Information Act revealed Gwynedd's main hospital, in Bangor, had Wales' second highest MRSA rates in 2002-2003. Infections were more than twice the national average. Figures released under the new act for the following year suggest infection rates had fallen - matching the Welsh average - but were 14-times higher than Ysbyty Glan Clwyd and double the rate at Wrexham Maelor. Political leaders immediately demanded explanations for the varying rates.
Link: BBC NEWS
Welsh Health Minister Brian Gibbons has called for more information on hospital infections such as the MRSA "superbug" to be made available to the public. He wants figures from individual hospitals to be published for the first time. Dr Gibbons said information should be presented in a clearer way so patients could understand risks posed by infections more easily. Unlike in England, current data does not identify individual hospitals. His proposals will go out to consultation within the next two weeks.
Link: icWales
A GRANDFATHER has spoken of a radical 10-and-a-half hour operation to remove a tumour from the back of his mouth. Surgeons at the University of Wales Hospital had to split John Smith's jaw open to remove the cancerous lump. And skin was taken from the 60-year-old's arm to mend the hole left by the tumour, thought to have been caused by heavy smoking and drinking. But more was to follow, as Mr Smith then contracted the superbug MRSA.
Link: This is Gwent.
A NEWPORT mum discovered she has the superbug MRSA after an operation at the Royal Gwent Hospital. Now Lucy Mills, 24, of Aberthaw Drive, Alway, says she is considering suing the hospital. The mum-of-four was admitted to the Royal Gwent on January 6 for a pre-planned Caesarean section. Days later, she says, she received a telephone call from the hospital saying she had the superbug MRSA. Her baby is unaffected. Miss Mills claimed: "On January 10, the morning I was discharged, they took a swab from my wound, then two days later they called and said I'd got MRSA and should go to my GP. "I knew nothing about the bug except what I'd heard on TV. I have four young children, and Oliver is just two weeks old. I was scared about the effect on them.
Link: this is southwales
Health watchdogs in Swansea and Neath Port Talbot are calling for talks with city health chiefs over the newly-disclosed MRSA figures. It emerged yesterday that there were nearly 550 cases of MRSA last year in Swansea hospitals, and more than 3,300 over the past six years. More than three-quarters of infected patients were at Morriston Hospital. The figures, which had been kept secret, were finally revealed after the Evening Post made inquiries through the new Freedom of Information Act.
Link: icNorthWales
A NORTH Wales pensioner died from hospital superbug MRSA just days after catching it, an inquest heard yesterday. Mary Roberts contracted the fatal bug from an injection in her leg for kidney dialysis at Wrexham Maelor hospital, classed as one of the worst in Wales for MRSA. And it comes only weeks after Nigel Prichard, 57, died of the MRSA bug six days after Maelor staff gave pain-killing injections in his knee. Yesterday, the coroner at Mrs Robert's inquest stressed the risk of catching infection in hospitals because of the high number of sick people there. "If you are susceptible, then the chances of infection are greater there than in the community outside," said North East Wales coroner John Hughes.
Link: icWales
MUCH is written about the "super-bugs" which can cause devastating damage to patients and their quality of life, so much so that it must scare people from going into hospital to have an operation. Community Health Councils have been campaigning to get hospitals to release their infection figures so that the scale of the problem can be understood and the hospitals with a real problem can be identified. This would enable work to be done to spread the good practice from the hospitals with low infection rates to their colleagues. One of the things the NHS does not do very well is to spread good practice. From the hospitals that are making information available we are able to see that infection rates in Wales are likely to compare pretty well with what is happening in England.
Link: Editorial Detail Page.
Three inquests have been held in eight days into MRSA-related deaths at the hospital, raising concern among patients. But North East Wales Trust deputy chief executive Mark Common reassured patients the hospital was doing all it can to minimise the infection spreading. He revealed that major steps taken had proved successful in reducing the instances of the bug. Putting the chances of infection into perspective, he said in July, 2001, the infection rate was 0.18 per thousand patient bed. By December, 2003, that rate had been reduced to 0.07 per thousand patient bed. He said those figures were extremely small bearing in mind the hospital dealt with about 32,000 elective admissions every year and about 60,000 accident and emergency admissions. He said if those figures were compared to trusts in England, which do release infection figures, the Maelor would feature in the top 10 performing hospitals.
Link: BBC NEWS
A third inquest in eight days has heard how a patient died of the MRSA super bug at Wrexham Maelor Hospital. Norman Bolton, 87, died in June from pneumonia after catching the bug. North East Wales coroner John Hughes said it was clear that the retired factory worker picked up MRSA in the hospital. Wrexham AM Dr John Marek said he had been assured the hospital was doing everything it could. Previous inquests in Wrexham last week were held on a man who died after injections for arthritis and a woman who had he hip replaced. All three deaths occurred after contracting the MRSA bug at the hospital last summer.
Link: BBC NEWS
An 87-year-old woman died in Wrexham Maelor Hospital after catching the MRSA superbug, an inquest has heard. Coroner John Hughes recorded a verdict of accidental death on Minnie Williams, who had been recovering from surgery and also suffered from heart disease. It is the second inquest in a week on the MRSA-related death of a patient at the hospital. North East Wales NHS Trust said an investigation is being conducted to establish the source of infection. On Monday, a verdict of accidental death was recorded on Nigel Pritchard, 57, who caught MRSA after injections at Wrexham Maelor Hospital.
Link: BBC NEWS
A man who went to a north Wales hospital for injections to treat arthritis contracted the MRSA bug and died within a week. An inquest at Wrexham heard that Nigel Pritchard, 57, had been well before his visit to Wrexham Maelor Hospital. Six days after having injections there, he was taken back by ambulance and died. The hospital said it has so far has not been possible to determine the source of the infection. A verdict of accidental death was recorded on Monday.
Link: ic Wales
DISTURBINGLY high levels of an antibiotic-resistant superbug have been found in Welsh hospitals during an undercover investigation. The MRSA superbug was found in samples taken from public areas of four hospitals, indicating the centres are harbouring "large reservoirs" of the deadly bacteria, an expert has claimed. The investigation for S4C's Y Byd Ar Bedwar also found most Welsh hospitals were harbouring methicillin susceptible staphylococcus aureus and another antibiotic resistant bug MRSE which can cause dangerous infections. Although the bacteria was found in public areas, if it had got into a vulnerable patient's bloodstream through an open wound, it could have caused a life-threatening infection.
Link: BBC NEWS
Infection rates of the "superbug" MRSA are to be published in a new way for hospitals in Wales.
The information will be released next year after health officials have examined how to present the figures.
Link: Welsh Liberal Democrats
Superbug infection rates in Welsh Hospitals are the lowest in Britain, according to figures published today by the Welsh Liberal Demcrats, yet, Health Minister Jane Hutt is still cloaking them in secrecy.
Mrs Hutt has consistently refused requests from Welsh Liberal Democrat Health Kirsty Williams to publish superbug infection figures for individual NHS trusts in Wales. She has said that people would not be able to interpret them accurately. On Wednesday, Welsh Office Minister Don Touhig joined the clamour saying he “shared the concerns” voiced by Brecon and Radnorshire MP Roger Williams and others.
Link: House of Commons Hansard Debates for 3 Nov 2004 (pt 1).
Check this to see several MP's questioning the resistance to revealing the per hospital figures for Wales
Link: this is southwales
Undercover patients will not be sent into Welsh hospitals to spy on the health service's battle against the MRSA superbug, the Assembly insisted today. Despite plans by Chris Beasley, the new chief nursing officer for England, to send so-called "mystery shoppers" unannounced into wards to report on what is happening, Wales is not going to follow suit, said officials.
ic Wales
Bill Wiggin, for Tories, said 600 people were expected to die from hospital acquired infections in Wales this year. There were 152 cases of MRSA in Wales in 1996, rising to 342 in 2001 and 481 last year.
"I think the Assembly could do a great deal more," he said. "I think we need more than just pretty words from you." Mr Touhig replied: "I do take the matter seriously." Roger Williams, for Liberal Democrats, said: "Unless we have accurate figures about the prevalence of MRSA in Welsh hospitals, we are unable to scrutinise the policies put forward by the Assembly to address the situation."
ic Wales
A MOTHER who became the victim of a superbug has been refused details of how many other patients have caught MRSA at the same hospital. Health Minister Jane Hutt is facing growing pressure from Westminster to release information on which hospitals in Wales have been hit by the deadly MRSA superbug. In England figures for infection by Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus are released for each hospital trust but in Wales the names of affected hospitals are kept secret and only a collective total is published. Cardiff Central MP Jon Owen Jones yesterday called on the Assembly Government to fall in line with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act, due to come into force next January, and publish full data.
Welsh Liberal Democrats
Health Minister Jane Hutt has refused to publish superbug infection figures for individual NHS trusts in Wales claiming that people would not be able to interpret them accurately.
Ms Hutt was put on the spot by Welsh Liberal Democrat Health spokeswoman Kirsty Williams during a meeting of the Health and Social Services Committee in the Assembly this morning(Wed).
Speaking in committee Ms Williams said: “You have these figures and are able to put these figures in the right context, but you are saying that you’re not confident that the public or your fellow AMs can do so. By not publishing you are saying that the public are not to be trusted. Gwent NHS Trust publishes its figures, so it feels patients in Gwent can make a judgement, but you’re saying no other patients can. We need to think again whether AMs and the public should have access to figures from individual trusts.”
Ms Hutt said it was up to individual trusts whether they wished to publish figures for MRSA infection, but said MRSA infection figures only account for 3% of infections, and that publishing them would take them out of context.
ic Wales - Screening gives MRSA a beating
A WELSH hospital department has been free of the MRSA superbug for three years because of a screening programme that is being taken up across Wales. The testing procedure for elective operations has been so successful that one department at Swansea’s Morriston Hospital has stamped out the infection. This control strategy has since been adopted by hospitals in England and Swansea NHS Trust said yesterday that it was “extremely effective” in combating staphylococcus aureus or MRSA.
For the longer feature with more details click link above
ic Wales
On the same day, Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust released its figures showing an average MRSA infection rate of 76 cases per million bed days. The Welsh average was 113 cases and the English average was 170.
ic Wales
CLAIMS of a superbug cover-up were made yesterday after the Welsh Assembly Government insisted it would not follow England's example and release MRSA infection rates on a hospital-by-hospital basis.
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)
