MRSA Action UK: NHS Trusts failures on hygiene

Monday, 16, Jun 2008 12:00

The founding of the NHS was the most practical response to human need ever developed in a capitalist democracy and NHS was a mile stone in history, and was probably the most civilised move any country has ever taken. Today (Monday) the Healthcare Commission has released a report giving the true picture of the NHS as it approaches it’s 60th Anniversary showing yet again how this institution and the Government are failing the people of this country.

This is the third year in succession that every NHS Trust in England will have issued a public declaration on their performance under the Hygiene code. Yet again we see from the reports of all 391 NHS Trusts that 1 in 4 have failed to meet the standard set out in the Hygiene code.

Whilst the Healthcare Commission have said that overall there has been an improvement in areas such as NICE guidance, levels of privacy and learning when things go wrong, there is cause for concern from our Charity’s point of view in the area of Healthcare Infections in that there seems to be little improvement with regard to Hygiene including the areas such as kitchens and rest rooms. Hygiene in the hospital environment is not just about the clinical areas; hygiene is about the total hospital environment and not just about clinical areas.

The figures released today in the report by the Healthcare Commission support our claim as a Charity that 1 in 3 hospital trusts will fail to achieve the target of reducing MRSA bacteraemia by 50% set by the then Health Secretary John Reid in March 2004. With the report released today by the Healthcare Commission, and the latest Health Protection Agency figures from April of this year showing 1 in 3 trusts have already breached the 50% reduction in MRSA, this constitutes in our opinion a total abject failure by those ministers charged with the care of our health as a nation.

The NHS was born 60 years ago as a development as to what can be achieved when radical thinking is combined with political courage. There is no lack of radical thinking from the part of those of us who have lost someone from or suffered from a Healthcare Infection, but there is a clear lack of political courage from those who have been elected to represent us and to make those changes necessary so that in the words of the Health Secretary “Patients and relatives need to be confident that the hospital and ward that they are being treated in is safe and clean for them to be in”

Our Health Ministers can reflect that they may welcome this years finding (In the words of Health Minister Ben Bradshaw) but the reality on the ground is far different. On July the 3rd our Charity will be holding a Memorial event in memory of those who have been lost and who have suffered from a Healthcare Infection, the absenteeism of some individuals will reflect the seriousness of their concern.

Derek Butler

Chair

MRSA Action UK

Registered Charity No 1115672

Tel No 07762 741114

http://mrsaactionuk.net