MRSA, Staph, Staff, Mersa, Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Symptoms & Treatment

Labour dismisses Tory bid to impose superbug fines

Link: Labour dismisses Tory bid to impose superbug fines | Society | Guardian Unlimited.

Speaking on a visit to the Trafford general hospital in Manchester, Cameron said that hospitals should not receive full payment for treating patients who contract a healthcare-associated infection. Furthermore hospitals should cover the costs of any further hospital treatment arsing from a superbug, he said. But the health secretary, Alan Johnson, said the Conservatives were proposing something that was already contained in legislation before parliament. Cameron's speech was part of his bid to set the new-year agenda on healthcare policy. He pledged to make the health service a political priority in 2008 - the 60th anniversary of its inauguration - claiming the Conservatives could replace Labour "as the party of the NHS".

Lancet slams Brown on hospital hygiene

Link: Lancet slams Brown on hospital hygiene - Yahoo! News UK.

Hospital hygiene measures to tackle superbugs announced by the government this week are populist moves that will have little effect by themselves, a leading medical journal said on Friday. In an editorial, the Lancet said plans outlined by Prime Minster Gordon Brown and Health Secretary Alan Johnson to deal with deadly infections such as MRSA and C Difficile were not based on scientific evidence. Brown and Johnson announced a clampdown on infections and hospital cleanliness, including a 50 million pound ward-by-ward deep clean of hospitals. All medical staff, including doctors, would have to abide by a "bare below the elbows" dress code and wear short-sleeved tops. The weekly journal said Brown had "grasped the wrong end of the evidence stick" over deep cleansing of hospitals. "Disinfection of high-touch surfaces is what is needed, more so than removing visible dirt," it said. "The public understandably wants clean wards and crisp uniforms, but politicians must stop pandering to populism about hospital cleanliness and listen to the evidence."

Zero MRSA in UK - An Unrealistic Goal

Link: A GP's verdict on Alan Johnson's health plans - Telegraph.

Controlling hospital-acquired infections is a complicated business. Matrons have very important roles as leaders and drivers of cultural change – surveys show that hospital staff are very poor handwashers, for example, and their role in improving this dismal statistic could be vital. But what about microbiologists? They need empowering as well. We have always been fighting on the front line – but have usually been regarded by hospital managers as boffins in the background whose budgets can be raided for front line clinical services. Matrons regard us as deliverers of bad news that comes in technical language that their training has poorly equipped them to understand. Team work, not just dragons stalking the wards, is the way forward. It is reasonable to suppose that a dirty hospital is poorly run. If its public spaces are unclean, what is it like behind the scenes? But the converse is not necessarily true.

Welsh Labour wants all hospital cleaning back in house

Link: ISSA News Detail.

All hospital cleaning in Wales will be carried out by NHS employees, rather than contractors, if Labour wins the Welsh Assembly elections in May. A report in this week's Western Mail claims that Welsh Labour Health Minister Brian Gibbons was about to reveal the new policy at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital, Llantrisant, where standards of hospital cleanliness have been singled out for praise in a report by the independent Health Inspectorate Wales. Wales is believed to have the lowest rates of MRSA in the United Kingdom, but Labour says it will further improve that position by guaranteeing that all cleaners working in Welsh hospitals will be employed by the health service, according to the publication. The Assembly Government has already changed the tendering rules, allowing a level playing field for in-house and commercial bids... all but one cleaning contract is now operated by the National Health Service, with the final contract also expected to return to the fold. Labour has indicated that if it wins the assembly election, it will not oblige trusts to go to tender again, making cleaners in the NHS a permanent feature.

Labour says Tory Target Cut Could Increase MRSA

Link: News and speeches:: The Labour Party: the future of Britain.

Labour's Health Minister, Andy Burnham MP, responding to the Conservatives irresponsible plans to scrap all targets in the NHS said: "Labour's targets in the NHS have had an important effect on improving patient care.   They have their limitations, but galvanising action around one key area can achieve real change in the service. The work on MRSA and C difficile is a clear example of how targets can improve the health of patients. "There is clear evidence to show that cases of MRSA fell once Labour introduced the target and the MRSA rate has fallen ever since.  Are the Tories just happy to sit idly by not directing the service as to the important action that should be taken to tackle this disease. "But this isn't good enough. Although MRSA infections rates are coming down, faster progress is needed to meet our target and it remains a priority of this government to halve MRSA infections in hospitals by 2008. "David Cameron and Andrew Lansley should be up front about what their policies would really mean - an increases in hospital acquired infections.

Hospitals could get food factory hygiene standards

Link: SocietyGuardian.co.uk

Patricia Hewitt starts with a promise of militancy!

Hospital visitors may have to wear hairnets, clean overalls and take precautions such as walking through a tray of disinfectant before entering the building in the NHS's drive to reverse the spread of the MRSA superbug, the health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, warned yesterday. In her first speech since succeeding John Reid last week, Ms Hewitt compared the experience of visiting top-class food factories in her former job as trade and industry secretary with conditions in the NHS. "I find it extraordinary that we have tougher laws and higher standards for hygiene in our food factories than we do for our hospitals. It is extraordinary and not acceptable," she said on a day when doctors and health unions attacked her plans to expand the role of private sector health providers to meet NHS needs.

Morgan attacks Tory MRSA 'piffle'

Link: BBC NEWS.

First Minister Rhodri Morgan has accused Conservative leader Michael Howard of scaring patients with "unscientific piffle" over MRSA. Mr Morgan also said Mr Howard was "hiding behind" the death of his mother-in-law from the hospital infection when challenged about it. The first minister made the attack in an interview with website ePolitix.com. Conservative Welsh assembly member Alun Cairns called the comments "outrageous" and "underhand". During the interview, Mr Morgan labelled the Tory campaign for cleaner hospitals "absurd", saying it was "all about simply telling lies to to the British people about MRSA levels". "It is pure scaremongering without a shred of scientific evidence behind it," he added.

Blair slams 'nasty' Tory campaign

Link: BBC NEWS

But the Conservatives in turn accused Labour of "negative" tactics. "Tony Blair has lost touch. He wants the issues that matter to be swept under the carpet. It makes him angry when he is held to account for his failure and will do all he can to divert people's attention," said the Conservative health spokesperson, Andrew Lansley. Health Secretary John Reid, appearing with the prime minister, accused the Conservatives of a "systematic deception". "The Tories want to traduce and run down the NHS in the public perception because actually they want to run down the NHS." In a speech at his constituency in Folkestone, Mr Howard said: "We sent out a letter and it referred to the MRSA rates in the local hospital trust when it should have referred to the local hospital trusts. "And that was a mistake and I'm very sorry we made that mistake. "Mr Blair may be angry about the omission of a letter 's'. I'm angry about the 5,000 people who die every year from hospital-acquired infections in our country, that's what I'm angry about."

Targets not to blame says Reid

Link: BBC NEWS.

Mr Reid was speaking as a summit on ways to combat MRSA was due to begin. "Those who say it's about government targets are the same as those who say its all about dirty hospitals," he said. "It isn't just about dirty hospitals. In some of our clean hospitals - which get good clean ratings - there is still a spread of MRSA." Thousands of people who visited hospitals were carrying MRSA and always had done, he said. It was just that MRSA had not always been resistant to antibiotics. Mr Reid pointed out that resistance had increased to 31% from 4% in the five years before Labour came to power.

Reid blames Tories for spread of MRSA

Link: Portsmouth Today

THE hospital superbug was at the centre of the local General Election campaign today after Health Secretary John Reid blamed Tories for the outbreak. On a visit to Portsmouth's Queen Alexandra Hospital he refused to accept responsibility for the crisis. He claimed the Tories were to blame for cutting back on hospital hygiene while they were in power. His defence came as Tories launched an election onslaught around the bug. In full-page adverts in newspapers, including The News, they blamed Prime Minister Tony Blair for 5,000 deaths caused by dirty hospitals.