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Link: Waterford News & Star:
VICTIMS of the hospital superbug MRSA and their families are being asked to attend a public meeting in the Tower Hotel at 7.30 p.m. on Tuesday April 25. The meeting is being called by MRSA and Families Support Group who intend to establish branches of the organisation nationwide. Local member Teresa Graham, whose husband Dermot acquired MRSA while undergoing treatment for cancer at Waterford Regional Hospital and died in late 2004, said that at long last MRSA was on the national health agenda. Following meetings with the Minister for Health, Mary Harney all doctors have now been directed to inform patients if they have MRSA and to have MRSA recorded on a death certificate. However, despite appeals to the Minister, MRSA sufferers or their families will not be given the same access to counselling that is currently available to Hepatitis C sufferers. At present there are no figures available for the number of MRSA sufferers or the number of people who have died as a result of MRSA in this country. However, Teresa Graham believes that in 2004 at least 320 people died of MRSA-related illnesses and 120 people died directly as a result of MRSA.
Link: News - Leeds Today
LESLIE Ash is still picking up the pieces of her life after almost being killed by a hospital superbug. Two years after being struck down by a deadly variant of the MRSA infection, the actress struggles to walk properly and is still in daily pain. But Leslie, wife of Leeds United soccer legend Lee Chapman, is determined to use her remaining strength to make sure other patients do not suffer the same fate. Leslie, 46, told the YEP: "No-one else should have to go through what I went through. You go into hospital to get better, not come out and get worse." The star of Men Behaving Badly and Merseybeat contracted MSSA, similar to MRSA, when she was admitted to the Chelsea and Westminster hospital in London with a broken rib and a collapsed lung. She believes the infection set in when doctors inserted an epidural needle to relieve the pain. The infection caused a large abscess to form which put pressure on her spine. The damage means she has lost much of her sense of balance leaving her unable to walk properly. The mother-of-two is now suing the NHS Trust which treated her and is also leading a campaign to clean up hospitals.
Link: RedOrbit
Hospital doctors in the region are at loggerheads with a patient support group over a booklet it has published on MRSA. Patient group MRSA Support has produced a leaflet called MRSA ( A Patient's Defence urging patients to speak up if they believe hospital staff aren't doing enough to halt the spread of the superbug. But medics at Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust ( which runs the city's RVI, Freeman and General hospitals ( have described some of the information given as "excessive and unnecessary" and fear it could lead to confrontations between patients and hospital workers. Dr Steve Pedler, director of infection prevention and control at the trust, has written to the Department of Health to make the Government aware of the document, and wants the MRSA Support group to change its contents. "The leaflet has clearly been written by a person with strong feelings on this topic," said Dr Pedler yesterday. "Some of the advice within it is sensible and reasonable. Some we would regard as excessive and unnecessary, but not actually harmful, while some is inaccurate or could lead to confrontation with trust staff." But yesterday, Tony Field, a founder of MRSA Support and author of the booklet, stood by what he had written.
Link: icCheshireOnline - Visitors urged to join MRSA fight.
HEALTH watchdogs are encouraging Leighton Hospital visitors to join them in the fight against MRSA. The Patient and Public Involvement Forum (PPI) has launched a Clean Your Hands campaign, stressing the need for cleanliness across the hospital site. It has carried out surveys of hospital departments to monitor moves to stamp out the superbug. New traffic light posters have been placed round Leighton and its sister hospital, the Victoria Infirmary at Northwich. The move comes as figures showed 18 cases of MRSA within the Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust between March and September 2005 - two less than the same period in 2004.
Link: Enfield Independent
A woman whose grandmother died after contracting a lethal infection which swept through wards at North Middlesex Hospital is setting up a support group for victims' families. Caterina Cotrulia, 93, died in September, 2005, after contracting clostridium difficile (C. diff) a bug which attacks the body causing severe diarrhoea and dehydration during her stay in Michael Bates Ward, in Sterling Way, Edmonton. Her death sparked accusations of gross negligence after one other patient died and around 30 fell ill as the infection swept wards. Internal investigations were also launched. Graziella Kontkowski, granddaughter of Ms Cotrulia, is now calling on families affected by C. diff, along with the superbug MRSA, to come forward.
Link: icCheshireOnline
A MID Cheshire mum who lost her son to MRSA will appear in a BBC documentary exposing poor hygiene in hospitals tomorrow night.
Mavis Law, of Beckenham Grove, Winsford, was one of a 100-strong army of superbug victims to go under-cover to highlight 'shameful' hygiene standards in hospitals across the UK.
The team posed as clean-ers to gain access to 10 of the worst-hit hospitals, wearing hired uniforms and brandishing mops and dusters.
Despite turning up unannounced, they were ignored by security staff as they witnessed shocking conditions. The team then took the problem into their own hands and started cleaning.
Mavis said: 'Some of the things I saw were shocking and the hygiene was shameful. It was lax, dirty and we were amazed that we weren't challenged by security staff. It was disgusting to see the conditions patients have to put up with.
Link: MRSA victim
A FORMER hospital cleaning supervisor whose leg was amputated because of MRSA today vowed to clean-up dirty wards --by becoming a hospital inspector.
Norman Turner, 42, from Darwen, said that he now wants to dedicate his life to improving hospital hygiene standards to combat the spread of the hospital acquired super-bug.
The father-of-two was admitted to Blackburn Royal Infirmary -- the hospital where he once worked -- for a routine operation to replace an artery with an artificial one on August 20.
The wound site in his groin became infected with MRSA and as Mr Turner fell into a coma, doctors were forced to save his life by amputating his left leg at the hip.
He has already approached various MRSA support groups and Patient and Public Involvement Forum (PPI) bosses have said they would welcome him as a member of their hospital forum which carries out spot-checks on hygiene standards within the East Lancashire Hospital's NHS Trust.
Mr Turner said: "All I want to do now is commit my time to volunteer work to improve hygiene standards in hospitals so nobody else has to go through what I have.
Link: Waterford news
Among the items on the group’s agenda was the need to end the lack of clarity over the prevalence of MRSA and its contributing role in the deaths of patients. “MRSA is not mentioned on the death certificate,” said Noel.
Noel Walsh: ‘She seemed genuinely gobsmacked’
“When this was mentioned to the Minister, she seemed genuinely gobsmacked,” continued Noel. “For example, if a person with cancer gets MRSA and dies, there is no reference to MRSA on that person’s death certificate.
Because of this, MRSA remains some sort of taboo subject - it’s being kept hidden.”
During the meeting, Minister Harney said that the referencing of MRSA as a contributing factor in death on a death certificate would be addressed. A spokesperson for the T�naiste confirmed the Minister’s stance to the Munster Express yesterday (Tuesday), adding that MRSA alone cannot kill a patient.
Noel, who is currently on a waiting list at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital for a transplant, needs no reminder of the dangers he encounters during any single visit he makes to hospital, be it WRH or St. Vincent’s.
“One person in a hospital with MRSA is one too many for a person with CF if you’re waiting for a transplant,” said Noel. “If I get MRSA, I will be automatically off the list - Newcastle wouldn’t take me with a 40 foot pole.”
Link: RIDBooklet_120605.pdf (application/pdf Object).
Click the link above for the PDF of an inspirational booklet about combating hospital infection
Link: Resources and information to reduce hospital infections.
Call your local hospitals today and ask them to support RID's campaign for cleaner hospitals and public disclosure of infection rates. Reduce Hospital Infection. Welcome to the online home of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, a non-profit organization devoted solely to reducing hospital infection rates -- a deadly situation that kills an estimated 103,000 Americans a year, including people you and I know. Where does it kill? In our hospitals. What is it? Infection. Who suffers? Any hospital patient, in any health, of any age, no matter who you are or how much health insurance you have. Hospital infections cause more deaths each year than AIDS, breast cancer, and car accidents combined. A serious bloodstream infection can add $57,000 on average to a patient’s hospital bill. These infections are largely preventable and at little cost. The single most effective way to reduce hospital infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is for doctors and other caregivers to wash their hands in between treating patients. Research shows that doctors clean their hands before treating a patient only 48% of the time, and the rate is worse at some hospitals. Doctors with dirty hands! It’s outrageous.
Link: West
Relatives of victims of the MRSA superbug wept yesterday as they laid a wreath in tribute to those who have died. Campaigners are calling on the Government to shift its policies from paper and into practice before more die from the infection. Members of the group MRSA Action UK placed the wreath at the Innocent Victims Memorial, at Westminster Abbey. They want all hospital-acquired infections to be counted and monitored so the true extent of the problem is known. The group wants the Government to recognise the "devastating impact" MRSA has on those who contract the infection and their families. It is estimated at least 100,000 hospital-acquired infections occur each year in the UK, leading to 5,000 deaths.
Link: News
HOSPITAL superbug victims and their relatives took their fight for better hospital conditions to the heart of government yesterday MRSA Action UK delivered a 6,000-name petition to Downing Street in a bid to open up a parliamentary debate on the spiralling MRSA death toll. Campaigners then laid a wreath at Westminster Abbey in memory of those who have lost their lives to the deadly bug. A delegation then met influential MPs on the Health Select Committee to outline issues they believe the government needs to address urgently.
Link: IOL
Founder Margaret Dawson said: “We don’t need something in 2006, we need something now. People are maimed for life, people are dying and people’s lives are ruined, yet there is nothing there to say we have an epidemic in Irish hospitals.” She said patients had to be tested for MRSA before they were admitted to hospital and a much greater emphasis on hand-washing and infection control was needed. MRSA is the term for bacteria resistant to one or more conventional antibiotics. It can be passed on by skin-to-skin contact and can cause severe infections in hospital patients. Ms Dawson, whose husband contracted the superbug in a Dublin hospital last year, said she had spoken to a number of people infected with MRSA, including a young man who was suicidal. “There is nothing out there for families and patients. There is no direct link for them. We need counselling for them and we need a free phone line so people can make contact,” she told RTE radio.
Link: icCheshireOnline - MRSA mum to confront Blair.
A CAMPAIGNER raising awareness of hospital superbug MRSA is to go all the way to Number 10. Mavis Law, of Beckenham Grove in Winsford, is going to Downing Street on November 28 when she will present a petition to Prime Minister Tony Blair demanding the Government takes action to eradicate the infection. Mavis, whose 32-year-old son Colin died of MRSA in 2003, will be joined by fellow members of pressure group MRSA Action UK, of which she is the Cheshire representative. The campaigners are hoping the petition, which has been signed by hundreds of people, will force ministers into action. Mavis said: 'All we are asking is that the issue of MRSA be discussed in the House of Commons.
Link: icCheshireOnline - Hospital should manage MRSA.
PATIENTS should not be treated at the Countess of Chester if it can't control MRSA. That's the suggestion from a member of Cheshire West and Ellesmere Port & Neston PPI patients' forum regarding 'poor' MRSA rates at the hospital. The unidentified man hit out in the group's Annual Health Check report on the region's Primary Care Trusts. The report said: 'One of our members believes the PCTs are letting the public down in their failure to use their commissioning powers to influence the standard of care provided in local hospitals. 'He cites the example of the consistently poor performance of the Countess of Chester in relation to MRSA rates. Story continues Continue story ADVERTISEMENT 'He suggests the PCTs have a duty to protect patients from this risk and that, if the MRSA problem at the Countess proves intractable, then it should send vulnerable people to a hospital where they are less likely to catch a life-threatening infection. 'This would, he believes, force the Countess to make improvements.' The report stresses that
Link: icWales
WELSH-BORN author Donna Antoinette Coleman reveals the health secrets doctors share with their families in her new book.Over the course of the next 10 weeks she and co-author Vernon Coleman will share these secrets with Health WalesIn the first column, the pair explain how everyone can protect themselves against the hospital superbug MRSA MRSA stands for Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus and is a particularly deadly infection, commonly found in British hospitals. Only go into hospital if you really have to - for life-saving treatment or for treatment that is going to dramatically improve the quality of your life. Try to get home as soon as you possibly can.
Click the link for more
Link: icCheshireOnline
A WINSFORD mum who lost her son to the hospital superbug MRSA is to lead more than 80 victims from around the region in their 'fight for justice.' Mavis Law, of Beckenham Grove, has been campaigning to raise awareness of the superbug since her son Colin, 32, died in 2003 when he contracted the infection at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital. He had been in hospital for a routine operation. Now Mavis is vowing to step up her campaign after being made the North West representative for the MRSA Support Group, a charity set up to lobby the Government to tackle the issue. The post means she will head an army of more than 80 campaigners from around the region who have been affected by the superbug. Story continues Continue story She said: 'The Government needs to take action to stop this tide of infection that is quickly becoming an epidemic.
Link: RTE News -
Relatives of people affected by the superbug MRSA have called for continuous inspections in hospitals and for the setting up of an office to which the families of patients can make complaints. The call by the support group, MRSA and Families, follows a disclosure that 8,000 patients tested positive for the potentially fatal superbug last year. Up to now the Department of Health has claimed there were about 500 cases of MRSA in hospitals last year.
Link: TODAYonline.
Nosocomial infections tend to be caused by non-sterile surgical procedures or nurses with lax hand-washing discipline. . With Singapore aiming to become the medical and healthcare hub of the region, what measures are being taken to reduce nosocomial infections and the resulting loss of life? . Would the authorities comment on this and release figures on the incidence and prevalence of nosocomial infections in local hospitals? .
Chin Shih Wei
The hospital responded
MRSA is under control at NUH and procedures are in place to reduce and prevent infections in the hospital. . These include meetings of the infection control team on a regular basis to review and improve the existing infection control processes; random audit to ensure compliance; campaign on hand washing; wearing gloves when touching bodily fluids and contaminated items; masking and gowning during procedures, etc.
Link: Waterford News & Star
A NEWLY formed group for families affected and bereaved by the deadly hospital superbug MRSA are to meet in the South East next week. Tramore woman Teresa Graham, a microbiologist at Waterford Regional Hospital who recently lost her husband, Dermot, to the disease, will speak at the group’s launch in the New Park Hotel, Kilkenny, on Friday, May 20.MRSA & Families has been set up to lend a voice to those whose lives have been irreversibly affected by the MRSA superbug.The new group has already received the support of a number of high-profile public representatives and TDs.The group is to lobby and seek a meeting with Health Minister Mary Harney in an attempt to “lift the veil of silence surrounding the MRSA crisis in Irish hospitals today”.“Together with MRSA and Families, I will be looking to sit down with Mary Harney to impress upon her the urgency of dealing with this crisis in our health service,” said Fianna Fail TD John McGuinnes
Link: IOL: Group plans to lobby minister over superbug.
A new support group has been set up to raise awareness about the MRSA bug. “MRSA and Families” is vowing to lift the veil of silence surrounding what it says is a superbug crisis Irish in hospitals. They say they are going to lobby the Health Minister over the spread of deadly infections in the country's wards.
Link: Sheffield Today: News, Sport, Jobs, Property, Cars, Entertainments & More.
A WOMAN was so shocked by filthy conditions on a Sheffield hospital ward she collected the dirt to send it to a laboratory for analysis. Sue Merrick, aged 55, from Frecheville, had taken her 81-year-old mother Jean Smith to the Northern General Hospital for a hip operation. But she was so disgusted by the lack of cleanliness around her mother's hospital bed on the Hunstman three ward that she not only cleaned up the dirt herself - she also bagged the evidence. Mrs Merrick now plans to send the dirt to a laboratory for analysis to see what it contains because she fears it could be harbouring harmful infections like the MRSA superbug. "We got to the bed and I looked at my mother's locker and it had not been cleaned - there was still a bag of used tissues and a spit bowl. I had to clean the locker, the bed and the tray," she said. Mrs Merrick took alcohol wipes from a trolley to do the cleaning herself, saying she did not want her mother exposed to germs. "There is a lack of hygiene and I'm not prepared to put up with it," she said. "They are not doing enough to tackle cleanliness and it really does need to be improved. "I think the dirt should be analysed to see if it contains any bugs."
Link: germcrimes.
Dennis Poole is taking action to ensure hygiene policy is taken seriously.
On April 12, 2005 the doctor told my mother that it is in Gods hands. If it is in Gods hands the Hospitals and Stock Marketers need to start praying because if my dad dies the video of the unsanitary conditions in the cardiac ICU where he was at and the name of the worldwide known Houston,TX hospital that was voted #1 by a major U.S. Newspaper will be all over the Internet! Question: If they notice in about three minutes or less with a high tech security camera in the ICU above my dad’s area on the ceiling that I was video-recording with a close to credit card size DV camcorder why did they not notice the unsanitary conditions that was there for days? Solution: Most hospitals and healthcare workers are not going to whistle blow on each other because of Medicare, lawsuits and the stock market etc. If healthcare workers were under a Microscope 90,000 Americans would not die each year from hospital-acquired infections and it would not add nearly $5 billion per year to our nation's health care costs etc. Webcams and motion capture software is a cheap easy solution, you will know when someone is in the patients area and you can make sure they are following proper protocol! Story: On February 24, 2005 at a worldwide known hospital in Houston, TX in the cardiac ICU if I would not have video-taped the unsanitary conditions where my father was located at he would be dead today from resistant germs.
Link: Norwich Evening News 24.
A man who set up an MRSA support group after his wife died from the infection has expressed concern about cleanliness at Norfolk's flagship hospital. Keith Hall said he was shocked by what he saw during a snapshot inspection of wards at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. He claims to have witnessed doctors, nurses and visitors walking into wards without using alcohol gel dispensers. The dispensers are designed to halt the spread of the superbug by ensuring people decontaminate their hands before having direct contact with patients. An inspection of toilets found them dirty, while basic rules on cleaning wards were being ignored, said Mr Hall.
Link: Northampton Today
A CAMPAIGN to get people in Northamptonshire to understand the risks of MRSA has taken its first step with a public meeting to make people more aware of the potentially fatal super bug. Bugbrooke-based MSRA expert Chris Malyszewicz believes that not enough people know what the infection is, how to stop it or what dangers it could pose to them. And after the success of his first public meeting on Friday night, held in conjunction with the organisation MRSA Support, the biochemist plans to hold meetings every month to make people more aware of the infection's risks. Mr Malyszewicz said: "The problem of the public is that they do not know enough about it and they do not have the guts to ask the nursing staff when they are in hospital." About 35 people turned up to the meeting at Bugbrooke Community Centre, which featured guest speakers from the MRSA Support group.
Link: BBC NEWS
Doctors and NHS bosses have been attacked for snubbing a conference on hospital superbug MRSA. About 1,400 health professionals have attended the Patients Association's summit on Thursday and Friday. But the Patients Association hit out after only a handful of NHS trust chief executives and one doctor went. Politicians, who were also attending the summit to set out how they would tackle the problem, were also critical. The Patients Association organised the Clean Hospitals Summit to come up with a plan on how to tackle the problem, inviting chief executives from nearly 200 NHS trusts. Scores of trusts sent officials, but the conference organisers said they were disappointed the top bosses were not there. Association trustee Vanessa Bourne, who shared a platform with MPs from the three main political parties, said: "There have not been that many doctors and chief executive here. "Do they really think hospital acquired infection is not their business?
Link: BBC NEWS | Health | Call to step up action over MRSA.
The Clean Hospitals Summit, to be held on Thursday and Friday, will involve 1300 people from across the UK. Organised by the Patients' Association, delegates at the summit will present politicians with a list of challenges. The event will be more than just a talking shop. They say the association will present politicians and civil servants with a list of challenges on MRSA, and they will monitor to see if changes are made in the following one-hundred days.
Link: BBC NEWS
Hospital visitors will be told they must do their bit to help win the battle against the superbug MRSA at a two-day summit later this week. Patients Association chairman Michael Summers said visitors had long been ignored in the fight against the superbug linked to 1,000 deaths a year. But he said it was vital that they washed their hands before going onto the wards. The issue will be raised at a Clean Hospitals Summit in London. Most wards have the soaps at the entrance, only the odd old building does not, so why can't visitors wash their hands? Jean Lawrence, of the Infection Control Nurses Association The role of ambulances and better wound care will also be addressed.
Link: NetDoctor.co.uk - Daily news.
But the infection worsened and the wound started to seep and smell. Joe felt increasingly tired. Shortly afterwards, he went to hospital in Kilkenny where MRSA was identified in his bloodstream. Today, almost one year on, he is in constant pain. His wound still festers with the infection he says has destroyed his life. He can no longer dress himself. He depends on two sticks to get around the house and a wheelchair when he goes out. His family has never received an explanation or an apology from the hospital for the condition of their husband and father. "I regret the day I set foot in that hospital," says Joe. "It was the biggest mistake I ever made. They told me that my wound wasn't healing because I was a smoker but to this day, we haven't been told the actual truth. "It is hard to describe the amount of pain you go through with MRSA. The amount of painkillers I get through is unreal. My stomach is in a constant knot with them but I have to take them because life would be unbearable otherwise." Frustration at the lack of answers has driven Margaret to establish a support group for victims of MRSA and their families. "It is high time we were given explanations. I went to Dublin and spent a whole day in the hospital on a quest for answers but I never got them. I was spoken to in a corridor and had doors closed on me. People out there are dying from MRSA but it is being swept under the carpet," says Margaret.
Link: Sunday Life.
A GROWING number of patients admitted to hospitals in Northern Ireland are bringing their OWN cleaning kits with them - because of continuing fears over the MRSA superbug. And, last night, the DIY practice was fully backed by a UK-based support group for sufferers and dependants. The group, led by chairman Tony Field, believes key preventative areas in the battle against the killer bug are still being ignored. "Our members in Northern Ireland tell us that a large number of people remain unconvinced over the state of hygiene in hospitals," he said. "That's why many are now taking the precaution of bringing their own safeguards, when they are admitted to hospital. "These include fabric and hard surface disinfectants, as well as everything from shampoos to body-washes. "We not only support this measure but actively recommended it. "It's a sensible step, because no matter what the government says, many hospital wards are still dirty."
Link: BBC NEWS
Patients should bring their own medical wipes and scrub up before coming to hospital to cut MRSA, say advisors. They should ask relatives to launder their clothes and make sure their visitors have washed themselves properly before entering the ward. The Patients Association's 10-point code also advises patients to collect their own rubbish and insist staff wash their hands to cut infection risk. Nurses welcomed most of the measures but questioned their practicality.
Patients' cleanliness code
Wash before coming to hospital
Ask relatives to launder nightwear/bring toiletry supplies
Visitors should be freshly showered/bathed
Only two visitors at a time
Visitors should not sit on the bed
Patients in isolation should not have visitors
Ask staff/visitors to wash their hands
Bring medical wipes with you and clean your hands after using a bottle or bed pan
Collect your own bedside rubbish
Fill out hospital questionnairesJean Lawrence, chair of the Infection Control Nursing Association, said: "It's obviously patient choice.
Link: icBerkshire.
All NHS patients should provide their own soap and toiletries in hospital as part of a 10-point code to be launched later this year, it has emerged. The Patients' Association has produced the code in efforts to create cleaner hospitals and reduce the risks from hospital-acquired infections. The code, revealed by Nursing Standard magazine, says patients should arrange for relatives to wash their nightwear while they are in hospital. It also says that hospital visitors should go home and wash and change their clothes before coming to see a relative. The code is being launched this spring at the Clean Hospitals Summit, to be attended by NHS chief executive Sir Nigel Crisp, Chief Nursing Officer Christine Beasley and Health Minister Lord Warner. The Patients' Association is to set the NHS a 100-day challenge to clean up its act and reduce healthcare associated infections, such as the deadly MRSA superbug.
Link: News.
Hospitals face a flood of medical negligence claims from patients who contract MRSA amid growing indignation about the apparent incapability of the NHS to deal with the disease, which kills 5,000 patients a year. Two prominent personal injury legal firms said they had taken instruction from 70 patients and one was getting six new inquiries a week. In the whole of 2000-01, the last period for which figures are available, only 45 cases were pursued. A total of �2.6m was paid in compensation to MRSA patients or their families between 2000 and 2003. All were settled out of court. Ian Cohen, a Liverpool personal injury lawyer, said the government model of how hospitals should be cleaned could increase the claims by providing a new measure of competence against which lawyers could test hospitals.
Link: SocietyGuardian.co.uk
Patients today rounded on government claims that there is no scientific link between superbugs and the dirty state of some NHS hospitals. The Patients Association's reaction came after junior minister Lord Warner admitted that guidance published earlier today to improve cleanliness in hospitals was only being tied to MRSA rates during its launch because of the 'public perception' that the two were causally linked. The association's policy officer, Simon Williams, dismissed the claims that the link between dirt and infection was all in the public's mind, arguing that it was impossible to divorce the two. "If you are looking at MRSA from an antibiotic perspective, some might argue that cleaning is not important," he said. "But the importance is how you catch it. A hospital has to be clean in the first place. If it is dirty, it harbours the MRSA and hospital-acquired infections, because if it is airborne dirt you inhale it and that is how you catch the infection. You cannot divorce the two completely. There is a relationship." The patients' representative body also criticised today's published guidance as not going far enough, and announced its intention to grab the problem itself 'by the scruff of the neck".
Link: BBC NEWS | Health
The poll also shows that 35% had never even heard of the Chief Medical Officer's 2003 report "Winning Ways", which identified intensified control measures as essential to defeat healthcare associated infection. Claire Rayner, president of the Patients Association, said: "Even this limited survey reveals a picture of haphazard systems and standards in what should be one of the most rigidly policed area of decontamination. "There is clearly enough evidence here to prompt a full survey, including Scotland and Wales, and standardise best practice. quot;We hope that the results and the issues raised at the meeting on infection control and medical device decontamination will stimulate further debate - transformed into real action - about the vital need to minimise the risk of infection to patients undergoing invasive procedures
Link: ic Birmingham.
Hospital survival kits are being issued as the threat of killer infection MRSA remains on wards across the region, it emerged today. Birmingham-based watchdog, MRSA Support, is backing a new clean your own bed kit for patients going into hospital. The kit includes disinfectant, bed linen sprays, hard surface cleaners to wipe table tops and immune system booster tablets. MRSA Support chairman, Tony Field, from Northfield, has teamed up with Scarborough-based business Pierson and Black to promote the self-help box. "The Government are telling patients they need to take more responsibility for cleanliness in hospitals and this is doing just that," said the 64-year-old.
Link: ic Berkshire - Spot of bother for Superbug.
PATIENT watchdogs will carry out a campaign of 'spot checks' at Upton, Wexham Park and Heatherwood hospitals to try and wipe out the Superbug MRSA. Teams will give hospital bosses one hour's notice before arriving at the three hospitals to watch how staff follow handwashing and hygiene procedures. Announcing themselves at the hospitals, they will then tell managers which wards and areas they will be inspecting - giving them no chance to prepare. The squads from the Slough Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Forum will visit 40 times between Wednesday next week and the end of March, 2005.
Link: EDP24
On Saturday, the first meeting of the MRSA Support Norwich group was held at the Assembly House. Filled with people who had suffered the infection as well as ex-medical staff who wanted to see a return to better standards of enforcing cleanliness on wards, everyone in the room had a common goal - they all wanted action. Mr Hall said many of the new matrons already supported him but the message had to get across to contractors and their staff. He has asked staff from Great Ormond Street Hospital to come to Norwich to brief doctors at the N&N about measures they use to control infection. "We want them to show us what they are doing about it," he said.
Link: ic Birmingham - .
STARK differences in cleaning hospitals over the past three decades will come under the spotlight during a talk in Birmingham on the rise of superbug MRSA. Retired tissue nurse Pam Millward and infection expert Dr Chris Malyszewicz will give frank views on where they think health bosses are going wrong. They have agreed to give the one-off talk for Birmingham-based MRSA Support at the The Hub Hazlewell, in Vicar-age Road, in Kings Heath, at 2pm, on Saturday.
Tony Field, chaiman of MRSA Support, from Northfield said "It must be of interest to everyone who has been touched by MRSA and other hospital acquired infections to see where things went wrong. "We have been told by Dr Geoff Ridgeway, a senior government adviser that there is no evidence that a clean ward is any less infective than a dirty ward, but this is nonsense."
This Is Local London
NORTH West London Hospitals, the trust that administers Northwick Park and Central Middlesex Hospitals, is holding a public meeting on the subject of hospital-acquired infections. Members of the public concerned about such infections, which include the "superbug" MRSA, are invited to Willesden Green Library Centre, 95 High Road, Willesden from 6.30-8.30pm on November 10. For more details contact Caroline Moran on 020 8861 9190
EDP24 News
A bereaved husband is launching an MRSA support group after his wife died of the bug at Norfolk's flagship hospital. Keith Hall wants to offer support and advice to other families across Norfolk who may be caught up in the MRSA nightmare. His wife Anne died in September last year, three months after undergoing a complex bowel operation at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. Over the past 12 months, Mr Hall has suffered stress and illness and made complaints to the N&N about the conditions of cleanliness. Mr Hall, of Shortthorn Road, Stratton Strawless, initially wrote a letter of complaint, but said the hospital lost it, and when he again raised the issues, he was outside of the N&N's six-month time limit to deal with complaints.
The Sun
VICTIMS of the MRSA superbug took their case to Parliament yesterday to tell the Government they must act against the epidemic.
More than 50, many in wheelchairs, travelled to the Commons to put their demands to Health Secretary John Reid. They also handed over a file of Sun investigations into the superbug which have uncovered EIGHTY times the accepted danger levels of MRSA in public areas of hospitals. Mavis Law, 64, of Winsford, Cheshire, whose son Colin, 32, was killed by the bug, said: “We need more cleaners on the wards. Their job is just as important as a surgeon’s. “A surgeon saves a life — then the patient comes out on to a dirty ward.”
this is southwales
Dirty doctors and nurses in Swansea are helping to spread the killer hospital superbug MRSA, it is being claimed. Ex patients say they believe some staff are failing to follow the most basic hygiene rules.
The accusation came yesterday at a brainstorming meeting between them and senior health chiefs in the city. Experts have promised to up their efforts to beat the worrying spread in hospitals of superbugs. But they also admitted yesterday they are even having problems recruiting cleaners as part of their battle to beat the bug. They staged yesterday's meeting at Singleton Hospital to outline what they are already doing - and also to listen to what the public wants them to do.
ic Southlondon - 'Clean up your act'
PENSIONERS demanded Lewisham Hospital "clean up its act" in a protest about MRSA on Tuesday. Led by Harry Haward, the chairman of Deptford Action Group for the Elderly (DAGE), they waved mops in the air outside the hospital in protest over the bacteria discovered in hospitals around the country.
Many of them are scared they may contract the bug - which can kill people already weakened by illness - if they are hospitalised.
Harry said: "My old people who come to our pop-in centre tell me they are really scared to go into hospital.
ic CheshireOnline
THE biggest public MRSA survey of its kind, involving more than 170 volunteer members of Patient and Public Involvement Forums across the North West, has come up with a positive result - hospitals are clean. The Bugwatch survey by PPI Forum members for hygiene standards put pressure on hospitals to clean up. They found in 300 wards in 36 hospitals, 88% were visibly clean and free from dust and dirt. The results of the survey showed hospital staff scored nine out of 10 for clean medical equipment and beds, and having towels and soap available. Ninety-four per cent of staff wore aprons and gloves when handling dirty linen - and there were indications from staff that forums had taken a big step in helping to stem the rise in hospital-acquired infections.
ic Birmingham
The risk of catching the superbug MRSA in Birmingham hospitals is so great that patients should fear going in for treatment, a campaigner claimed. A city council scrutiny committee investigating the lethal problem, heard the chilling claims from Tony Field, of the MRSA support group. He claimed simply going into hospital was putting yourself in danger. "Everyone should be in fear of going into hospital - it is a high-risk business being a patient."
More on this story at the link above. Click here for MRSA Support
EveningNews24
PPI member, Marilyn Skirn, said the forum was very keen to hear from patients who have been affected by hospital infections. Everyone has different experiences and ideas," she said. "It is a case of getting the hospital to put some of the ideas into practice.
"We want to provide as many people as possible with advice and information about infections. "Essentially we want the prevalence of infections at the hospital tackled and be able to make as many positive changes as possible." The PPI forums are non-NHS bodies comprising of volunteers with the aim of reflecting public's and patient's views on local health services as well as monitoring the quality of services.
ic Southlondon
The hospital at the centre of a Sun expose is taking action
"We are going to issue wipes so that when a wheelchair or trolley is used by a patient it will be wiped down by the porter before it is used by another patient." All in-house porters receive infection control training on hand decontamination, hygiene and disposal of gowns, and she has vowed that all agency staff should be the subject of stringent checks.Alan Hall, chairman of the Lewisham Primary Care Trust Patient and Public Involvement Forum, said these changes could not come soon enough. He said: "We want to find out the extent of the problem, and rest assured we will take it up on behalf of Lewisham patients."
ic CheshireOnline - Hygiene at hospital a mixed bag
PATIENT groups have come up with a mixed bag of results from their latest Bug Watch at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
As part of the national campaign to beat the MRSA superbug, which is now killing about 5,000 people a year in the UK, volunteers from patient and public involvement (PPI) forums across the North West visited hospitals last week to put cleanliness under the microscope.
In this area, about 20 members of the forums for Ellesmere Port & Neston, Chester and the hospital itself visited the Countess, which has been awarded foundation status for its high standards.
Peter Shephard, a borough councillor and chairman of the borough's PPI forum, said: 'We had teams of two examining every ward at the hospital.
'We were specifically looking at cleanliness, rather than methods of treatment.
'That means we were interested in the way wards are cleaned, how dirty dressings and needles are disposed of and whether staff are washing their hands properly.'
He added: 'There has been some concern about the Countess as it had a very poor MRSA rating among acute hospitals.
'Our official results will be published soon but our impression is that we found quite a mixed bag.
'Things seem to be done differe
EDP24 News
Read the last line below and weep. Full story at link above
A patient group responsible for monitoring services at Norfolk's flagship hospital is to give people chance to quiz senior staff about the superbug threat. The next meeting of Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital Patient and Public Involvement Forum is planning to present the facts on the chances of picking up a bug at the hospital. The meeting on Thursday will look at what the N&N is doing to make the hospital a safer place for patients and the public. It will give people the chance to:hear what modern matrons do on the wards;
find out the N&N's plans for infection control;
put questions to Helga Scotton, senior specialist nurse, infection control at the hospital about MRSA and other hospital-acquired infections.
The N&N is planning a study to discover the prevalence of MRSA in the hospital after it emerged there was no up-to- date data available on hospital-acquired infections.
The excerpt below is part of a long and eloquent post from the mother of a teenager battling MRSA infection. It's well worth a read
I attended a discussion on MRSA infection at the Dana Centre last week and was quite perturbed at the attitude exhibited by some (medical) members of the panel; a diatribe regarding the over-prescription of antibiotics over the last forty years and an attempt made to suggest that there is no correlation between the rising incidence of HAI with the perceived lowering of standards in the general cleaning and hygiene of hospital premises and a suggestion that improved vigilance by patients themselves would enhance the cleanliness and hygiene of both hospital premises and staff.Further, the contention by Dr. Samuel Khan posted on the MRSA discussion forum on July 12 2004, entitled “MRSA – you’re probably carrying it’, that the information being broadcast by ITV news, the Daily Mail and Clare Rayner, among others, is ‘rubbish’ and the exhortation ‘not to panic’ should be revealed for what it is – a cynical attempt to downplay the seriousness of the infection and an attempt to obfuscate the real reason behind the growing number of cases.
Particularly before the advent of widespread and easily accessible information, patients had little knowledge about drugs prescribed and are entitled to believe – and I think this was certainly more true forty years ago than it is now – that medicine prescribed by a GP for the ailment presenting has been thoroughly researched and is appropriate. The implication that they should bear any responsibility for the over-prescription by GPs of antibiotics for minor ailments over the years is outrageous – were GPs aware that antibiotics were ineffective against viral infections and, if so, why prescribe them?
Click the link above for more
This is York
A NEW health watchdog has begun work in York by investigating cleanliness at York Hospital. The hospital recently lost its three-star status, with hospital cleanliness the one key target on which the trust was considered to be underperforming. The Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Forum, a public body representing patients and public interest in the local delivery of healthcare, took over from the disbanded community health councils earlier this year. Chris Blanshard, chairman of York PPI Forum, said members had met the director of facilities at York Hospital Danny Morgan and infection control representatives, to discuss the cleanliness matter and the efforts currently being made to prevent infections such as the superbug MRSA.
Enfield and Haringey Independent)
Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust will spend an additional �180,000, tackling MRSA. Part of the money will be spent employing more infection control staff. A review of the trust's decontamination policy, increased cleaning schedules, cleanliness spot checks and making sure alcohol gel is readily available on wards, is underway.
Concerns were raised about nurses wearing uniforms in public, and hygiene leaflets not being readily available on wards. Nick de Bois, Conservative parliamentary candidate for Enfield North, accused the trusts of acting with complacency. He said: "They should recognise residents had genuine worries about the conditions at these hospitals and they should explain to the meeting why Enfield had the worst performing hospitals in the country for MRSA. "I challenged them to accept responsibility for putting their patients and hard-working clinical staff at unnecessary risk because of their complacency. Nobody seemed satisfied with their answers."
The Sun
SPOT checks for deadly hospital bugs were branded a farce yesterday after wards got TWO WEEKS advance notice. The MRSA survey — the biggest ever — took place last week in 327 wards. But inspectors were greeted by gleaming hospitals with shiny floors — because staff knew they were coming.
Manchester Online
ONE in 10 hospital wards in the north west are dirty and dusty, says a watchdog group which aims to tackle the deadly superbug MRSA. Last week, 36 hospitals in the region were inspected by the team of members of the public organised by the Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Forums which replaced Community Health Councils last year.
MRSA superbug Discussion Forum
You might like to check out the the MRSA superbug open discussion forum. You can start a new topic or reply to any existing topics. No need to register to use this forum. Please feel free to share your experiences of MRSA. This forum is provided in association with UK based MRSA Support group.
BBC
A team of volunteers will be visiting hospitals in the North West to look at standards of hygiene and cleanliness. The survey, carried out by the Patient and Public Involvement Forums (PPI Forums), aims to increase understanding of the hospital "superbug" MRSA. Volunteers will look at how often staff wash their hands, and the numbers and availability of sinks on the wards.
PPI Forums
Newly-established local bodies for involving the public in health - Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Forums – are already working to stamp out the killer superbug MRSA. The PPI Forum members - supported by the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health - welcomed Health Secretary John Reid's new action plan to beat MRSA* . But there are concerns that the ability of lay volunteers to shoulder this important work is limited, and that expert support is needed.
ic Liverpool - Superbug timebomb
THE deadly superbug MRSA is a ticking timebomb on hospital wards and legal experts warn an explosion of compensation claims could leave the NHS facing massive legal bills. Liverpool lawyer Ian Cohen, from Goodman's Solicitors which specialises in clinical negligence cases, says hospitals must find a way of controlling the superbug or they will have to foot huge bills from patients who take legal action.
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)