MRSA (Mersa, Staph) Questions

NHS anger over Tory MRSA claims

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.

Matrons drive Tory hospital plans

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

Tories rely on matron to halt MRSA spread

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.

Scots Tory claims MRSA is epidemic

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.'

Tories & The Stats

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."

Tories denounce MRSA '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.

Tories Condemn Blair MRSA stance

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".

Money an MRSA factor claims MP

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."

Hospital superbug deaths double in four years

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."

Tories Promise Extra Hospital Beds to Combat Superbug Threat

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.