Howard pledges MRSA crackdown

Tuesday, 26 April 2005 12:00 AM

Michael Howard has said that the Conservatives would introduce a state-of-the-art testing system to quickly identify patients infected with MRSA is they win the general election.

As part of the Tories' bid to combat the hospital superbug, Mr Howard has pledged £10 million to introduce the new system nationwide.

At present it takes days to identify MRSA patients, but the new nasal swabs system only takes a matter of hours.

The Conservative leader has repeatedly rounded on Prime Minister Tony Blair for failing to tackle hospital infections, arguing that hospitals are hindered by pressure to meet Labour targets.

At a press conference today he said: "A Conservative government will trust them to exercise their judgement, not second guess them at every turn with targets and initiatives."

Mr Howard says a Tory government would give matrons the power to close infected wards.

He also promised to publish all MRSA infection-rate figures to highlight the potential danger people face.

The Liberal Democrats have responded to the Conservative pledge by calling on them to say "sorry" for not doing more to combat the spread of the superbug while they were in power.

Liberal Democrat health spokesman 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 90s, 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."

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