New effort to tackle hospital superbugs

Tuesday, 7 December 2004 12:00 AM

New Government plans to improve cleanliness in hospitals - and tackle the spread of hospital superbug MRSA.

It is the latest attempt to tackle the problem of hospital acquired infections, which are thought to be responsible for more than 5,000 deaths a year.

Guidelines on awarding cleaning contracts have been revised to focus more on the quality of service provided and there are revised guidelines on the minimum cleanliness standards in hospitals.

Launching the plans, Lord Warner, said: "This guidance sets out clearly how often different areas of a hospital should be cleaned and what level of cleanliness is required.

"This means both hospitals and cleaning firms know what is expected. This is just the latest step in our drive to improve cleanliness and lower rates of infection."

The second round of results of the inspections by patient environment action teams (PEAT), also published today, revealed an improvement in cleanliness.

In the first round earlier this year, 90 out of the 1,138 NHS sites in England were rated as either poor or unacceptable and therefore susceptible to outbreaks of infection.

But today's results reveal that only 27 are now judged poor or unacceptable (2.5 per cent), compared to ten per cent judged excellent, 38.5 per cent good and 49 per cent acceptable.

Also announced today was the uptake of the CleanYourHands campaign, which encourages staff and patients to remember the importance of hand hygiene as a way of preventing cross-contamination between patients.

Chief nursing officer Christine Beasley said nearly a third of NHS trusts have now implemented the measures and a further 30 have signed up to take part in the new year.

The Liberal Democrats though suggested that Government targets were actually hindering, rather than helping the battle against infection.

Health spokesman Paul Burstow, said: "Government targets hamper the effort against infection. Patients are shunted from ward to ward and there is not enough time to clean beds properly between patients. Infection control staff are often ignored and the spread of infections continues. Ministers must get a grip on this situation and stop infections spreading.

"Frontline staff should be free from red tape and political interference so that they can get on with the job of treating patients, and preventing infections."

Unison said that improving hospital cleanliness was simple - more cleaners should be employed.

General secretary Dave Prentis, said: "There is no magic solution, no complicated formula, if you want cleaner hospitals, if you want to fight off the superbugs, you must have more cleaners. At the heart of the rise in infection rates is the fact that over the past 15 years, the number of hospital cleaners has been cut by more than half."

He added: "Contracting out has led to cuts in staff, and falling standards. Cleaning contracts should be brought back in house so that hospital staff have direct control and are able to take action to deal with any problems."

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