MRSA (Mersa, Staph) Questions

Liberal Democrats : Government strategy on superbugs failing

Link: Liberal Democrats : Government strategy on superbugs failing - Lamb.

Commenting on statistics released today from the ONS showing deaths involving hospital superbugs MRSA and Clostridium difficile are still on the rise, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb MP said: "This extraordinary rise in cases of MRSA is evidence that the Government’s strategy to deal with superbugs is failing. "We are in the dark over what is actually happening, with contradictory figures pointing in totally different directions. The Government’s drive to cut waiting times at all costs conflicts with what should be an absolute priority of cutting infection rates. "The simple truth is in hospitals where targets dictate where patients are kept and beds are filled to bursting point, nurses are not able to isolate patients and clean wards in order to beat the bugs. "There must be an urgent reassessment of the reporting procedure for hospital acquired infections. Some death certificates are still failing to document where an infection led to a patient’s death.

Lib Dem call for a wider MRSA perspective

Link: Industry and the Environment: 19 May 2005: House of Commons debates (TheyWorkForYou.com).

As for the Queen's Speech, I was a little concerned about the idea of legislating to ensure that hospitals are clean, as one would presume that a mop would do a better job, but it remains an important issue however it is dealt with. In terms of MRSA, we should really consider over-prescription and inappropriate prescription of antibiotics and whether antibiotics are fed to farm animals outside this country, creating a bacteriological resistance to antibiotics that causes great hazards to human beings. If the relevant Bill moves down that route instead of setting simplistic targets on mops, alcohol washes and the like, we have some hope that it will be useful.

Liberal Democrats : Tories Should Apologise For Record On MRSA - Burstow

Link: Liberal Democrats.

Responding to the Conservative Party's press conference on MRSA, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary Paul Burstow said: "What the Conservatives really need to say is sorry.  Sorry that they failed to bring back matron while they were in office.  Sorry that MRSA rates rocketed in the nineties, and that they failed to collect proper information on hospital infections. "Instead of offering a real alternative for the NHS, the Conservatives have spent the campaign running the NHS and its staff down."

Kennedy says abolish targets to aid MRSA fight

Link: Evening Star.

Meanwhile, in a letter to the family of Luke Day, who died at Ipswich Hospital from septicaemia caused by meticillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) at just 36-hours-old, Mr Kennedy outlined the views of his party and their proposals to fight hospital superbugs. Mr Kennedy offered Luke's parents, Glynis Day, 18, and Kevin Fenton, 24, his condolences after they wrote to him asking for his party's views on how to prevent further tragedies. He wrote: "I agree with your comments about the need for urgent action to tackle MRSA and other hospital acquired infections. "The Liberal Democrats believe the key to combating MRSA is to free the NHS from the constraints of government imposed political targets.

Lack of infection infomation claim Lib Dems

Link: ThisisLondon.

The statistics were obtained in an answer to a Parliamentary Question by Liberal Democrat spokeswoman for London, Sarah Teather. She said that, despite the downward trend, "the number of cases in London remains a scandal". "Ministers would be wise not to see this as the turning of the tide. The figures are the tip of the iceberg. There are many other bugs which cause infections in our hospitals for which information is not collected," she said. She blamed government targets for spreading the infection, claiming pressure to treat and discharge patients as quickly as possible meant staff did not have time to maintain high hygiene standards which would control it.

MRSA figures do not tell the whole story - Burstow

Link: Liberal Democrats

Commenting on the publication of the latest MRSA figures, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Paul Burstow MP, said: "It is good news that the rate of MRSA infections are falling, but Ministers would be wise not to see this as the turning of the tide. "The figures the Government is collecting are not telling the whole story.  The Government must collect and publish the facts about the true level of infection in the NHS.  But reporting on MRSA helps only if it gives patients useful information and helps doctors and nurses to learn and change the way they work. "It is a scandal that Ministers do not know how many isolation rooms there are in the NHS.  There should be an urgent audit of current provision and future plans for isolation rooms.

Leicester sees MRSA decline

Link: (TheyWorkForYou.com).

Parmjit Gill (Leicester South, LDem) Hansard source

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of MRSA" >MRSA have been found in each hospital of the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust since 2002.

Stephen Ladyman (South Thanet, Lab) Hansard source
The information requested is not collected at a national level to show numbers for individual hospitals within national health service trusts. The numbers of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA" >MRSA) bacteraemias reported for the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust is shown in the table.
Number of MRSA bacteraemias reported
2002–02 163
2002–03 144
2003–04 132

MRSA Infection Guide

Link: (TheyWorkForYou.com).

Sarah Teather (Brent East, LDem) Hansard source
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the percentage of patients in hospitals in each NHS Trust in Greater London who are infected with MRSA" >MRSA.

Melanie Johnson (Welwyn Hatfield, Lab) Hansard source
Information on the percentage of patients in hospitals who are infected with methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is not collected centrally. However, national and regional information on the mandatory MRSA surveillance system is published on the Health Protection Agency's website at www.hpa.org.uk/cdr/archives/2004/cdr2904.pdf.

Welsh Liberal Democrats call for MRSA leadership

Link: Welsh Liberal Democrats - Democratiad Rhyddfrydol Cymru -.

Welsh Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson Kirsty Williams said: “Our problems with MRSA are not as grave as in England, but these figures show that successive governments have failed to give sufficient attention to the superbug problem. “Like every other aspect of the NHS, MRSA can only be tackle by calm and stable leadership, something that Brian Gibbons has so far failed to show. “The problem with the superbug MRSA began under the Conservatives when they ordered hospitals to contract out their cleaning on the cheap. Labour’s lack of strategic vision for the health service in Wales means things are getting worse not better.