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Link: Welsh Conservatives
Welsh Conservatives are giving cautious support to a Swansea AM's brainchild of cleaning tsars to keep hospitals free of superbugs like MRSA.
Swansea East Labour AM Val Lloyd introduced the Assembly equivalent to a private member's bill, making non-executive members of hospital trust boards more responsible for cleaning issues. Tory health spokesman Jonathan Morgan AM said: "While we support the move to nominate an official to be responsible for hospital cleanliness, this in itself will not deliver cleaner hospitals.
"I know, through visiting hospitals across Wales, that nurses are frustrated at the lack of facilities and resources to keep wards clean.
Link: Conservative Party - News Story.
Little wonder, that since the Election, Labour are stealing our policies. Now, they say more private sector capacity is required. Now they say, hidden waiting lists are denying patients the treatment they need. Now, they admit infections - and not just MRSA - are causing thousands of deaths. Now, the Prime Minister says there's nothing he can do to stop the crisis in NHS dentistry. And now, the truth comes out that hospitals across the country are in debt and now - now, after the election - that they are closing wards and laying off staff. These are the issues we fought to expose during the General Election campaign. We fought for the NHS to have a better way: real increases in resources, which get to the front line. Less bureaucracy and more clinical leadership. Professionals set free from targets and bureaucracy. Cleaner hospitals, The return of GP fund-holding. More doctors and nurses. More children's hospitals. NHS dentistry brought back to the High Street. Real choice for patients and real freedom for NHS and independent hospitals to invest and improve services.
Link: Bexley Express.
Old Bexley and Sidcup MP Derek Conway blasted Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt after she announced plans to prosecute hospital chiefs who fail to keep their wards clean on Tuesday. The Conservative MP branded Ms Hewitt a 'patronising school mum type' after she unveiled plans that could see chief executives face charges of corporate manslaughter if a patient dies of the MRSA bug. The proposals mean hospital chiefs could face fines or prison sentences if their negligence leads to death, disability or illness. Mr Conway claimed the plans use the wrong methods to get rid of the lethal superbug in hospitals.
Link: this is devon - news, entertainment, jobs, homes and cars.
In a letter to Mr Howard, the trust's chief executive John Rom said: "I am deeply shocked that the inaccuracies in your letter would reduce the confidence which the public have in this hospital. "In addition, your letter also asserts that these people contracted MRSA here. It is impossible to say where the cases we have recorded were contracted, whether that is here or elsewhere in the health and social care system." Past figures for MRSA had put NDHT in the top 12 worst hospitals in the country for infection rates. But hospital bosses say the figures are inaccurate as they include MRSA isolates found in patients and samples coming to the hospital from other hospitals and treatment units outside the trust's control. In addition, there have only been four recorded cases of MRSA in the last six months, none of which was acquired at NDDH. Mr Rom said: "The bald facts are that even on the basis of the official data, the rates being shown are now among the lowest in the country."
Link: icWales
The hospital comes valiantly to it own defence at the link above - showing that it is one of the better hosptals when it comes to MRSA in the UK
THE row over MRSA infections has erupted again after figures showed how cases more than doubled in one Welsh hospital over a six-year period. Figures released by Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust show the number of patients contracting the superbug in Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport, is up from 129 (1998) to 270 (2004). Tory AM David Davies, pictured, who is contesting Monmouth in tomorrow's election, said, "These figures are shocking and completely unacceptable. The trust is arguing this is because of changes in the way people are screened, but I cannot accept this can account for such a huge rise. "I suspect part of the problem is that in order to fulfil government targets as soon as one patient is discharged, another is moved into the bed before it can be properly cleaned. "The figures show just how badly out of control MRSA is and how important it is that political parties make tackling it one of their top priorities."
Link: Scotsman.com News
MICHAEL Howard was forced to apologise last night after he broke hygiene rules on a hospital visit intended to highlight his plans to wipe out MRSA. The Tory leader, who lost his mother-in-law to a hospital acquired infection, promised £10 million yesterday to speed up diagnosis and help to eradicate the problem. But on a visit to London’s National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, he failed to follow basic procedures aimed at halting the spread of MRSA. Mr Howard had carefully scrubbed up before entering the Lady Ann Allerton ward. However, he did not repeat the process between shaking hands with two patients. Catherine Cook, the hospital’s infection-control nurse, said hands should be cleaned "before you touch a patient and after you touch a patient". Speaking later at a forum organised by the Conservative Party to discuss MRSA in Solihull, West Midlands, Mr Howard said that he was "mortified" by the error.
Link: Scotsman.com
A multi-million pound testing system to identify swiftly MRSA and help irradiate it is today proposed by Michael Howard. Patients currently have to wait days to learn whether they have been struck by the hospital superbug. However, tests being introduced by one NHS trust take just a matter of hours. The state-of-the-art system would be introduced nationwide under the Conservatives. Mr Howard, who lost his mother-in-law to a hospital acquired infection, made combating MRSA one of his five key election pledges. The Tory leader will pledge the �10 million needed to introduce the nasal swabs system across the country at his morning press conference.
Link: icWales
RED-FACED Tories refused to apologise last night after sending voters a letter wildly exaggerating MRSA figures for the FOURTH time. A letter sent to voters in Preseli Pembrokeshire claimed 85 people contracted the killer bug in the local NHS trust last year. But official figures show it was only 13. It came just one day after a letter signed by Michael Howard was sent to voters in Conwy claiming 125 people picked up the bug in their trust, when the real figure was 25. Labour quickly seized on the blunder. Their candidate in Preseli Pembrokeshire, Sue Hayman, said: "The Tories are still at it. They are sending local voters figures about MRSA in our hospitals that are plain wrong. "This is insulting to Pembrokeshire NHS workers." Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley told Wales on Sunday the letter should have read 'trusts', not 'trust'. "The figure reflects accurately the number of bloodstream infection rates for the area," he claimed.
Link: BBC NEWS.
A hospital which has won an award for its cleaning has been caught up in the row over misleading Tory MRSA leaflets. Party leader Michael Howard has apologised after several areas received the inaccurate mailouts last week. But Winchester's Royal Hampshire County Hospital, which has won cleaning's equivalent of the Oscars, is still writing to Mr Howard to complain. Other hospitals have also come forward to correct the leaflets which exaggerate the cases of the superbug. The leaflets, which have been sent to areas the party is targeting, gave regional figures for MRSA rates, but said they were just for the local NHS trust.
Link: icCheshireOnline
A WIRRAL hospital has hit back at suggestions by the Conservative Party that almost 150 people contracted MRSA in the NHS Trust. The statement issued by Wirral Hospital NHS Trust was put out to "correct inaccurate information included in election campaign material". According to a letter distributed by the local Tory party this week to households in the borough, "last year alone, 146 people contracted MRSA in your local NHS Trust." But, in a statement, Wirral Hospitals said: "The latest Department of Health MRSA surveillance data shows that, for the period referred to in the letter, the Trust saw a total of 40 patients with MRSA bloodstream infections. This equates to about one case for every 2,000 admissions."
See also stories about Torbay
Link: BBC NEWS
Hospital bosses have rounded on Tory leader Michael Howard after he leafleted thousands of homes quoting misleading figures about MRSA rates. In North Yorkshire, leaflets from Mr Howard claimed there had been 247 MRSA cases at the local hospital in the last year when there had only been six. Several other trusts have told the NHS Confederation similar misleading claims have been made about their MRSA rates. The Tories said they should have made clear these were regional figures.
Link: BBC .
Matrons will have new powers to close infected hospital wards under Conservative plans to fight superbugs. Tory leader Michael Howard, setting out his party's £52m ten-point action plan to tackle MRSA, said matrons would be put in charge of hospital cleaning. The government's "obsession with targets" was risking lives, he said. Labour has pledged to cut MRSA rates and says there are already thousands of matrons on the wards. The Lib Dems dismissed Tory plans as "unbelievable". Patients are dying because of Mr Blair's targets Michael Howard Fact check: Hospital deaths Mr Howard accused Prime Minister Tony Blair of prioritising Labour health targets over the battle to prevent hospital-acquired infections. "Patients are dying because of Mr Blair's targets," he said, speaking after a visit to a hospital in Tooting, south London. "It is a fact that doctors and nurses are prevented from closing wards they know to be infected with the superbug because of Whitehall targets." Mr Howard, whose mother-in-law died from a hospital-acquired infection three years ago, said cleaning up hospitals was a "personal" issue for him
Link: Guardian Unlimited Politics
The Conservatives yesterday invaded a Labour election stronghold when they unveiled a £52m 10-point plan to tackle the "Labour-created" epidemic of MRSA in hospitals - which Michael Howard explained had killed his mother-in-law. The "matron's budget" would re-empower matrons to close infected wards and operating theatres rather than allow managers to insist they stay open to meet government targets for operations and shorter waiting lists, the Tory leader and his health spokesman, Andrew Lansley, told a campaign press conference.
Link: dailyrecord.
Dr Syed Ahmed, NHS Greater Glasgow's consultant in public health, said: 'This is not an outbreak but an unrelated increased number of cases. 'All patients admitted to the unit are routinely screened for MRSA as standard practice so that added precautionary measures can be taken to prevent infection.' Tory health spokeswoman Nanette Milne said there was a hospital acquired infection 'crisis' north of the Border. She said: 'HAIs in Scotland's hospitals have been increasing and around 40 people a week are affected in the very places that they expect to be treated. 'Waiting lists and times are bad enough in Scotland - the closure of this unit will do little to help the overall crisis in our hospitals. 'But if the infection control team recommended the closure then I am glad administrators backed them up.'
Link: News.
The Tories said the figures were flawed as they failed to include the winter months, when rates were higher, and they only included bloodstream infections, not MRSA contracted through other means, such as open wounds after surgery. Andrew Lansley, the shadow Health Secretary, said: "Blair's government has failed to make clean hospitals a priority. Suddenly, a few months before a likely election and eight years after no action, we get flawed figures that smack of pre-election trickery."
Link: Times Online - Britain.
The Tories dismissed as "pre-election trickery" figures released today showing that infections with the MRSA superbug in NHS hospitals have reached their lowest level since mandatory records began in 2001. John Reid, the Health Secretary. welcomed the Health Protection Agency figures as a sign that the Government’s measures to clean up hospitals were starting to bite, but acknowledged that MRSA "remains a problem". Mr Reid announced new initiatives to step up the fight against the antibiotic-resistant bug, including a new rapid swab technique to identify patients coming into hospitals with MRSA within two hours rather than several days. It is hoped this test will be particularly helpful in preventing patients bringing the bug into hospitals from care homes. The figures for the six months from April to September of last year show that some 3,519 NHS patients were infected with MRSA, compared to 3,940 in the previous six months and 3,598 in the same period of 2001.
Link: Conservative Party - Press release.
Mr Blair told his monthly press conference that superbug deaths should be 'put in context'. Commenting, Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: "It is unacceptable for Mr Blair to try and excuse the Government's failure to tackle the superbug. MRSA rates have doubled under his Government and we have one of the worst MRSA rates in Europe. Official figures published yesterday reveal the situation is getting worse. Mr. Blair has failed to take action but Conservatives will deliver what matters to people - clean hospitals".
Link: icSurreyOnline
Conservative Sir Paul Beresford believes that recent statistics show a disturbing increase in MRSA cases. Quoting National Health Service statistics, he condemned figures that show incidents of the virus at the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford have increased by 115 per cent from 2001/2 to 2003/4. Cases at Surrey and Sussex NHS Trust - responsible for East Surrey and Dorking hospitals - are up 71 per cent and Epsom and St Helier five per cent. Sir Paul said: "Although the number of cases as a proportion of the total treated as inpatients is small, the increase is significant in two cases and the lack of decline disturbing in the third. "I am acutely aware that on the one hand most Mole Valley constituents are paying considerably more taxes, especially stealth taxes. "Yet our hospitals seem to be under constant financial squeeze or in financial deficit."
Link: SocietyGuardian.co.uk
The Conservative leader, Michael Howard, entered the MRSA debate earlier today when he highlighted the results of a National Audit Office report which he said showed that one-in-10 infection control inspectors had reported that NHS chief executives had refused or discouraged suggestions that wards should be closed on cleanliness grounds. He said their reluctance to act was influenced by their desire to meet performance indicators. He said: "This means patients are dying because of Mr Blair's targets."
Link: Scotsman.com News
Tory leader Michael Howard today promised more hospital beds to enable dirty wards to be shut down. The Conservatives want hospital matrons to be given the power to shut down dirty wards and operating theatres to combat superbugs such as MRSA. Mr Howard said patients would then go into other wards or if necessary other hospitals. He said a Tory government would increase capacity if that was needed.
Link: The Sun.
Mr Howard whose mother-in-law died from MRSA, vowed to put powerful new matrons back on the wards to enforce strict hygiene standards. He said: “They will be able to shut down dirty wards immediately. More people die from the MRSA superbug than are killed on Britain’s roads. “Hospital infections cost the NHS £1billion a year — enough to pay for 47,000 nurses, 14,000 doctors or over 220,000 hip replacements. “But even though MRSA is on the increase, Health Secretary John Reid says he will only reduce the number of victims by half after four years. “So Mr Blair is prepared to sit idly by while thousand more die from hospital superbugs. Nothing speaks as loud of Labour’s failure to improve our NHS. Nothing is as deafening as Mr Blair’s silence on his culpability for the superbug crisis.”
Link: Guardian Unlimited
Click the link for the whole text of Michael Howards article
Florence Nightingale once said that "the very first requirement in a hospital is that it should do the sick no harm". Today, despite the devotion and dedication of thousands of doctors and nurses, the NHS is failing that test. People are waiting longer for treatment under Labour. Worse, you are more likely to die of an infection you pick up in hospital than to be killed on Britain's roads.
Link: Times Online - Britain.
The Tories say that they want to abolish what they term the Whitehall target culture, which they claim has "spawned the superbug crisis". The Government announced four months ago the return of matrons to help combat MRSA. But the Conservatives say that under Labour's plans, neither chief nursing officers nor matrons would have the power to close dirty wards. According to the Tory health manifesto, local infection teams would work with the matron and be able to close wards where superbug outbreaks have occurred.
Link: News.
Proposals for a powerful matron in every hospital, responsible for cleaning and infection-prevention measures, are contained in the party's health manifesto. Mr Howard will unveil proposals today to force hospitals to publish department-by-department details of hospital-acquired infection rates. Last year, about 100,000 people contracted MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, in hospitals. Rates of the infection, which causes 5,000 deaths a year, are said to have trebled in the past decade. Tories say a single person should be responsible for hygiene and infection control in each hospital, with nurses ensuring that cleaning is adequate in wards. They argue that hospital inspection teams should be given greater power to order the closure of wards affected by infections to stop managers overruling recommendations.
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)
