NHS bosses face sack over dirty hospitals

Friday, 15 July 2005 12:00 AM

Hospital bosses could face the sack if they fail to get a grip on MRSA and other hospital acquired infections.

The proposal is part of a government consultation on a statutory hygiene code for the NHS, set to be included in the Health Improvement and Protection Bill.

But the proposals no longer include plans to press criminal charges against dirty hospitals, as initially put forward by health secretary Patricia Hewitt in May.

The government is proposing a new code of practice that all NHS bodies would have to follow, and which would be overseen by the Healthcare Commission.

The commission would be given powers to impose improvement notices on NHS bodies that fail to deal with MRSA and other health care associated infections (HCAIs).

Ultimately, the commission would have the power to dismiss NHS bosses where it deemed such action appropriate.

But Liberal Democrat health spokesman Steve Webb said making hospital and NHS managers scapegoats was not the answer, and accused ministers of rushing to take action.

"Legislation is not going to be the wonder cure that tackles MRSA and other hospital bugs. Ministers in the rush to be seen to be taking action are missing the point. Many solutions could be implemented now.

Both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats said the key to lowering infection rates was reducing bed occupancy.

"The most effective solution is to tackle the high bed occupancy rates which means nurses do not have time to clean beds properly and patients are shunted from ward to ward," Mr Webb added.

Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said: "We know that high bed occupancy rates mean higher infection rate. The government promised to bring them down, but they went up.

"Now they claim not to have any targets, nor an assessment of what is needed. Once again, the government's complacency over tackling hospital infection is a disgrace."

A recent report by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee also came to this conclusion, stating that there was "evidence that wider factors such a bed management policies and the need to meet waiting time targets can compromise infection prevention and control".

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