Choice is the solution to MRSA, says Howard

Thursday, 2 September 2004 12:00 AM

The Conservatives' NHS policies would tackle the problem of the superbug MRSA, according to the party's leader.

Yesterday, the National Patient Safety Agency said that antiseptic gels would be placed at each patient's bed to encourage staff to wash their hands more frequently and so reduce the possibility of infection.

This is part of the Government's cleanliness drive to cut infection rates that were estimated by the National Audit Office this July to cost around 5000 lives a year.

However, Michael Howard accused the Government of failing to act decisively enough.

Speaking today, he described MRSA as the latest "British disease" and argued that 50 years ago when London smog killed 4000 people there was a national outcry and the Clean Air Act was introduced.

Why, when 5000 lives are "lost needlessly and tragically" due to infection, "why isn't there a national outcry? Where's the Government's sense of urgency?" Mr Howard argued.

Attacking the Government's record on MRSA, he claimed "Labour have launched 20 initiatives in the last four years - initiatives designed to catch headlines. Yet more and more patients go on catching the superbug. Yesterday, the 21st initiative was launched to encourage hospital staff to wash their hands. I welcome that. But it's hardly rocket science. Why on earth has it taken almost four years to come up with such a basic recommendation when the issue of handwashing was first raised in an official report as long ago as November 2000?"

"Time and again, the Government has been told about this problem."

The Conservatives, he said, would place MRSA at the top of their priorities and scrap targets that he claims divert attention away from cleanliness.

"Secondly, we're going to give patients proper information about the superbug.

"We will ensure that clear infection statistics are available to patients for every hospital in the country - and department by department. That will mean that the staff in those departments know where the infection is present and take responsibility for dealing with infection in their wards."

Mr Howard said that his much vaunted "right to choose" policy in the NHS - where patients would be able to take a set amount of funding to which hospital they chose - "So if patients don't want to be treated in a filthy ward, or one with a high rate of infection, they won't have to be.

"Hospital managers will therefore have real incentives to force up standards. Dirty hospitals will lose patients and the funding which goes with them."

UNISON, however, said that MRSA was a Conservative creation. General secretary Dave Prentis, said: "If MRSA is the new 'British Disease' the Tories were the carriers. It was the Tories who carried the superbug into hospital wards across the country by cutting and privatising cleaning services.

"We need more cleaners to fight off this killer bug and cleaning contracts taken back in house so that hospital staff have direct control over their environment and can take action to deal with any problems."

The Liberal Democrats also rejected the Conservatives' announcement. Health spokesman Paul Burstow said Mr Howard's words were "typical rhetoric and hot air."

Mr Bustow called for the scrapping of "political targets to free up NHS staff to tackle infections. The lack of isolation rooms, which is preventing staff from stopping the spread of superbugs, must also be examined."

Tags: