New cleansing development to help fight superbugs

The Telegraph reports that in "the biggest trial of its kind the newly developed cleansing agent Byotrol has cut levels of MRSA on wards by one third compared with the NHS gold standard bleach."

A development to reduce MRSA significantly must be welcomed since "300,000 patients – one in 12 – contracts an infection in English hospitals every year."

Note: you can boost your immune system by eating healthy meals and avoiding salt and salty food.

Paul Clements disagrees with Sir Richard Branson about the best way to tackle MRSA in hospitals.

Sir Richard Branson's plan to tackle MRSA will come to grief
article in the Telegraph, written by Paul Clements

Extract:

"Unless you ensure everyone who enters a hospital is clear of Staphylococcus aureus, Branson’s plan is all but meaningless.

The cheapest and simplest solution remains good hygiene – by the cleaning staff, nurses and visitors alike. Spread by contact with contaminated skin and unclean surfaces, poor sanitary procedures ensure that MRSA is a menace to the NHS.

Unless both staff and visitors are made to wear plastic gowns when at a patient’s bedside and to rub their hands with alcohol gel before and after a visit – the bacteria will thrive.

Earlier this month, I was back in an A&E ward, sat for six hours with a neighbour who had collapsed in his bathroom. Of the dozen or so staff who came to check up on him, only one used the alcohol rub before or after they had examined him. There was dried blood on the ward floor, next to scraps of unbinned surgical waste.

Rather than taking staff out of the NHS to have them disinfected, Sir Richard might do better to suggest putting in more who know their way around a mop and bucket. Either that, or start a whistleblower’s phoneline."

(Sir Richard Branson accuses politicians of failing over hospital superbugs
article in the Telegraph)

Sir Richard Branson criticised "horrific" hospital infection rates, accusing politicians and health bosses of "tinkering" with the problem.

Sir Richard Branson accuses politicians of failing over hospital superbugs
article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"The Virgin tycoon, who was recently appointed vice-president of the Patients Association, called for all hospital staff to be screened for the superbug MRSA and receive immediate treatment if infected.

He has also said managers at failing NHS trusts should be fired.

Infection rates for MRSA are falling across the UK with the most recent quarterly figures showing a 33 per cent drop year on year, but Sir Richard is calling for more to be done.

The entrepreneur - whose daughter Holly is a doctor - told the BBC: "There have been some improvements, but the facts speak for themselves - and the facts are still horrific.

"It feels like they have tinkered with the problem rather than really got to the heart of the problem. The hospitals are there to cure people. They are not there to kill people."

He said the NHS could learn from the airline industry about how to avoid mistakes and improve.

"In the airline industry if we had that kind of track record we would have been grounded years ago," he said.

"In the airline industry if there is an adverse event that information is sent out to every airline in the world.

"And every airline makes absolutely certain that that adverse event doesn't happen twice."

Sir Richard is helping to organise an international conference on infection control and patient safety early next year."

I'm pleased he is not afraid of speaking out about these important matters. He sounds as though he is an appropriate person to be vice-president of the Patients Association.

Excellent news about the herb, Oregano, as a possible future agent in the fight to eradicate the superbug, MRSA.

Oregano could help eradicate MRSA superbug
article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Scientists have discovered that the herb, commonly used in cooking, could eradicate the deadly infection from hospital wards.

A team at the University of the West of England in Bristol, working with partners in India, found that tiny quantities of carvacrol, a naturally occurring compound in oregano, is a more effective antimicrobial agent than 18 pharmaceutical drugs it was compared against.

The discovery could lead to a new defence in the fight against hospital infection.

Carvacrol has been found to contain potent anti-fungal and antibacterial properties with a range of medicinal uses.

It can sterilise septic water, kill giardia, treat fungal infections such as candida and rivals pharmaceutical antibiotics such as streptomycin and penicillin in its ability to eliminate microbes.

Research into the medicinal properties of oregano has been led by Biolaya Organics, a company that specialises in the conservation and sustainable production of Himalayan medicinal herbs.

Set up by British environmentalist Ben Heron in 2007, the award-winning company works with villagers to encourage sustainable methods of farming in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Oregano grows in abundance in the region's high alpine valleys.

Biolaya is now working to publish its research in a scientific journal and find partners to develop oregano oil-based soaps and sprays.

Preliminary research into the oil found that tiny doses are capable of wiping out fungi and bacteria, including MRSA. Researchers found that the oil still works at boiling temperature, meaning it could be used for disinfecting hospital sheets. Its vapour is equally effective and could be turned into an antibacterial spray.

Mr Heron said: "Himalayan oregano oil kills MRSA at dilution's of less than 1 to 1000 and the antimicrobial properties, unlike most conventional antibacterial agents, are not affected by heat treatment."

Seems like some really good news about reducing superbugs on hospital wards, by using copper fittings.

Copper fittings 'all but eliminate superbugs'
Article in the Telegraph

Extracts:

"The study, funded by the copper industry, found copper fittings rapidly killed bugs such as MRSA and C difficile - bugs which claim thousands of lives a year.

Trials at Selly Oak hospital, in Birmingham, found copper taps and toilet seats helped significantly reduce the presence of the bug.

Copper is a common constituent in medicines including antiseptic and antifungal creams."

"Professor Tom Elliott, lead researcher and a consultant microbiologist at the hospital, said: "The findings of 90 to 95 per cent killing of those organisms, even after a busy day on a medical ward with items being touched by numerous people, is remarkable.

"I have been a consultant microbiologist for several decades. This is the first time I have seen anything like copper in terms of the effect it will have in the environment.

"It may well offer us another mechanism for trying to defeat the spread of infection.'"

Sometimes comparatively simple measures are the most effective, as may prove to be the case with this. The simple measure that I know about personally is that the simplest, most reliable, safest, fastest way to reduce excess weight is to cut down drastically on salt and salty food. You can read about it here:

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

Hospital wards across the country are being filled to potentially dangerous levels, increasing the risk of infections like MRSA, it has been warned.

Hospital superbugs: Full hospitals wards 'increasing MRSA risk'
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Official figures reveal that more than 95 per cent of beds at some hospitals across Britain were filled last year.

The national average, and recommended safe level, is 85 per cent.

Among the highest rates for Primary Care Trusts were at George Eliot Hospital Trust, in Warwickshire, where the bed occupancy rates was 97.8 per cent, and Bath and North East Somerset PCT, where it was 97.1 in the 12 months to April this year.

Experts warn that extra space is needed to deal with outbreaks of infection, such as the Norovirus, and that high levels of occupancy can lead to a rise in superbugs like MRSA."

Sad story of a young mother who lost her life four days after undergoing gastric surgery in an attempt to lose weight for the sake of her young son.

Mother who vowed to slim for son dies after gastric surgery
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Suzanne Murphy, 29, requested the major operation because she felt her obesity limited the things she could do with her five-year-old son Jacob. After a 16-month wait, she was admitted to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary for surgery on October 31, 2006, but died from multiple organ failure four days later.

In a note left under her son's pillow before the operation, Miss Murphy wrote, "I don't want my baggage to become a weight you have to carry, son."

An inquest heard how although she had contracted MRSA in hospital, Miss Murphy was likely to have died from an extreme reaction to the operation, exacerbated by her obesity.

At the hearing in Huddersfield, her sister Linda Richardson said in a statement: "She had put on a lot of weight over the years and felt it was stopping her doing the things she wanted to with Jacob.""

People are given the wrong information about obesity and it leads to this sort of tragedy.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, angina, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/children.html

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/obesity_and_the_salt_connection.html

See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/fatretention.html

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/vulnerable_groups.html

See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/sodium_foods.html and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ami.html

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/steroids.html

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/pregnant_mothers.html

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations

If you need my further help, I can be contacted from my website. - My help is free.

Claire Rayner has some well-justified criticisms of the NHS and some suggestions to improve it.

NHS at 60: In the end I had to go private
Article in the Sunday Telegraph

Extracts:

"In 1988 she suffered chest pains. Efforts to contact a local doctor at 3am led instead to a locum service, which insisted she find her NHS number before any help could be given. "In the end we gave up and got through the night, but next day we signed up with a private GP," she says.

The chest pains revealed a hole in her diaphragm, while arthritis has since resulted in her having five knee operations and surgery to both shoulders. In 2002, breast cancer led to a double mastectomy. She used an NHS hospital on two occasions and was infected by the superbug MRSA.

"The tissue on my knee suddenly split, and I had to go to Accident and Emergency," she says. "For four hours, I was left in a highly infected room with a totally exposed wound. For at least an hour I could see the doctor sitting gossiping with a colleague.

"When she came over her hair wasn't tied back, then she used the wrong kind of gauze to patch me up. I felt so angry. When I discovered afterwards that I had MRSA I was appalled, but I wasn't all that surprised."

Now, she and her husband, Des, who is 80, avoid the NHS. "I have a list of hospitals with lower infection rates that I would go to if I was desperate, but we avoid it when we can. I'm embarrassed and ashamed to admit it, but I had to put my health first."

Determined to use her public profile as Patients Association president to achieve better services, Mrs Rayner urges the NHS's political masters to learn from the values and standards she saw in the service's early years."

"Now, as the NHS is about to turn 60, Mrs Rayner offers hospitals a three-point prescription to return the service to robust health.

"Firstly I would get rid of the nurses' station on the ward. It is a hiding place for them to hang around gossiping. Secondly, I would get rid of the targets. Third, get rid of all the middle layers of management and all the deceit to meet targets that happens as a result.""

More than a quarter of health trusts in England are failing to meet basic hygiene standards, official figures show today.

NHS trusts fail to meet hygiene standards
article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"The Healthcare Commission reports that no improvement has been made on a year ago.

In total, 103 out of 391 trusts admitted they did not achieve the minimum requirements, brought in by the Government to help combat the hospital superbugs, MRSA and Clostridium difficile.

Patients groups and politicians said that it was "shocking" that one in four still did not meet the standards, despite ministers' pledges to tackle cleanliness.

More than 8,000 deaths were related to MRSA and C. diff. The report shows that 26 per cent of trusts failed to keep facilities clean, did not have adequate infection control or follow guidelines on decontaminating reusable equipment.

Only 40 per cent of trusts claim to have met all the Governments standards, which include patient care and confidentiality as well as hygiene, a slight fall on last year."

Record numbers of patients are dying in hospitals and nursing homes after contracting superbugs, new figures show.

Superbugs MRSA and Clostridium difficile killing record numbers of patients

Extracts from the Telegraph:

"MRSA and Clostridium difficile were linked to more than 8,000 deaths in England and Wales in 2006, up from 5,300 the previous year.

The first ever breakdown of deaths from both infections by location released by the Office for National Statistics shows that the vast majority of patients died from the bugs in hospital.

The deadly infections also killed small numbers of patients in nursing homes and hospices."

"Worst ten hospitals for deaths from superbugs

Number of deaths from MRSA 2002 - 2006

Derriford Hospital, Plymouth 94

Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth 81

Maelor Hospital, Wrexham 79

Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton 77

Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton 75

General Infirmary, Leeds 70

Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge 68

Birmingham Heartlands Hospital 67

Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital 65

General Hospital, Southampton 64

Number of deaths from C difficile 2002 - 2006

Royal United Hospital, Bath 268

George Eliot Hospital, Nuneaton 235

Walsgrave Hospital, Coventry 233

Royal Infirmary, Leicester 203

General Hospital, Kettering 200

Birmingham Heartlands Hospital 177

General Hospital, Leicester 169

Frimley Park Hospital 164

Sunderland Royal Hospital 152

General Hospital, Southampton 149"

The number of deaths in Britain linked to the potentially deadly superbug Clostridium difficile has quadrupled in just five years.

Deaths from hospital superbug Clostridium Difficile quadruple

Extract from the Sunday Telegraph:

"More than 6,000 people died in 2006 after becoming infected with the gut infection in hospitals across England and Wales - a more than four-fold rise compared with 2001 figures, the Office of National Statistics will say.

Meanwhile, the number of deaths linked to MRSA rose by more than one third, with the infection mentioned on almost 1,700 death certificates in 2006.

The figures, due to be published on Thursday, follow an admission by the Department of Health's most senior experts in infection control that the main reason for a 50-fold increase in cases of Clostridium difficile in less than two decades is the failure of hospitals to follow hygiene rules drawn up 14 years ago."

Hospitals across the country are helping to fuel the rise of superbugs like MRSA and C Difficile by overprescribing antibiotics.

Hospital antibiotics 'fuelling superbugs'

Extract from the Telegraph:

"GPs are already being urged not to hand out the drugs for coughs and colds but many hospital doctors also overuse the medication, Prof Mark Wilcox, of Leeds University, said.

Prof Wilcox, an expert on the control of hospital acquired infections, will tell a conference on intensive care medicine in London next week that part of the problem is that the health service does not know what antibiotics hospitals prescribe."

The family of a 39-year-old mother has spoken out after she was admitted to hospital with an ear infection, then died after contracting MRSA.

MRSA kills mother in hospital with ear infection

First extract from the Telegraph:

"Shakuntala Pancholi, a civil servant, had developed the infection after routine surgery.

She was admitted to hospital but died from multi-organ failure 16 days later.

An inquest earlier this week ruled that she died of natural causes and yesterday her husband Suresh, 51, said: "She went into hospital with an ear infection, which is not life-threatening and then suddenly she is in a critical condition."

The inquest heard that Mrs Pancholi was admitted to Leicester Royal Infirmary in September 2004 suffering from an ear infection caught after an operation to repair a perforated eardrum.

MRSA was detected and she was given antibiotics. After a week she was sent home but her condition deteriorated and she was admitted to Leicester General Hospital, where she died four days later."

Second extract from the Telegraph:

"Last month the Countess of Chester Hospital Foundation Trust was hit by an outbreak of C-Diff only four days after undergoing a £300,000 clean up. At least 26 people were affected and wards were closed.

It emerged that hundreds of trusts are allowing doctors and nurses to treat patients even after they have tested positive for MRSA and other potentially lethal superbugs, with no systems in place to automatically remove staff from wards if they are found to be carrying an infection."

A superbug capable of killing previously healthy youngsters within 48 hours is on the rise in Britain's playgrounds

Playground superbug can kill children within days

Extract from the Telegraph:

"A superbug capable of killing previously healthy youngsters within 48 hours is on the rise in Britain's playgrounds, and has left at least 10 children fighting for their lives.

Cases of the bug, known as Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL), have more than doubled since 2005, official figures show.

Doctors are particularly concerned that many young people could have been exposed to the infection in their school playgrounds or in local parks.

Children are especially vulnerable to PVL, a member of the Staphylococcus aureas family of infections, and it can combine with MRSA, the deadly hospital superbug.

Once contracted, the infection acts quickly to kill off white blood cells, an essential part of the body's immune system.

The bug can also enter a patient's skeleton, where it becomes particularly hard to cure. Doctors often have to treat the disease by removing infected bone.

Cases of PVL combining with MRSA were first reported in America several years ago and are becoming increasingly common.

Doctors claim that the Government is not taking the threat of the bug seriously enough.

Mark Enright, professor of molecular epidemiology at Imperial College London, said: "This infection can kill healthy children in one to two days, but the authorities are continuing to treat MRSA as purely a hospital problem and trying to assuage public opinion."

Professor Richard Wise, a leading microbiologist, told a Sunday newspaper that he warned a Government health minister of the threat three years ago."

C diff deaths up by 72 per cent

Superbug deaths up by 72 per cent

Extract from the Telegraph:

"Deaths related to the hospital superbug Clostridium difficile have risen by almost three quarters, according to official figures.

The number of deaths involving the severe form of infectious diarrhoea rose by 72 per cent, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

However, MRSA-related deaths have levelled out, the ONS said."

You can improve your health and resistance to infections by avoiding salt and salty food. - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html

A new, more vicious MRSA strain threatens Britain

'Flesh-eating' MRSA strain threatens Britain

Extracts from the Telegraph:

"Spread by contact among people, the bug can cause boils as large as tennis balls, blood poisoning or a necrotising condition which eats away at a person's lungs.

Resistant to most front-line antibiotic drugs, the new strain is a far more vicious form of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), which is commonly found in hospitals.

It is copying the HIV virus by targeting mainly gay men in the US, but is also prevalent among injecting drug users and players of contact sports such as wrestling or American football.

Although only two cases of the lethal strain - which is a new form of a recently identified MRSA strain known as USA300 - have been recorded in the UK, experts fear it may only be a matter of time before it becomes established in Britain."

"Professor Mark Enright, from Imperial College and St Mary's Hospital, London, Britain's leading authority on MRSA, said: "It's quite surprising that the figures are so high. "The main reservoir for this infection is gay men, drug users, and those involved in contact sports, like wrestling. Having lots of sexual partners and making skin contact with a large number of different people helps the infection to spread.

"In the US it is already moving into the wider community, which is very worrying.""

You can boost your general resistance to infection by avoiding salt and salty food and eating plenty of fruit and fresh vegetables. See Sodium in foods and
Associated health conditions

M&S £45 pyjamas have silver lining to help stop MRSA

From The Telegraph -

M&S pyjamas' silver lining helps stop MRSA

Extract:

"Silver-laced nightwear has been tested in a handful of hospitals, but M&S has become the first retailer in Britain to stock the pyjamas.

They are only available for men at present and come in three colours - teal, navy and burgundy. A spokesman for M&S said: "They are produced using a fabric which has two per cent silver woven into it. Silver is know for its infection fighting properties and has previously been used by the military.

"The fabric that the pyjamas are made of has been clinically proven to reduce the risk of MRSA by killing bacteria that come into contact with the fabric. Clinical trials are currently ongoing and are three quarters of the way through. The interim results were positive.""

Lose weight and improve your health in many ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/steroids.html

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ami.html

vulnerable groups

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

Dirty ambulances help to spread superbugs, claims Unison union

Dirty ambulances help spread superbugs, claims union

Extract from The Guardian:

"NHS ambulances could be helping to spread potentially deadly infections such as MRSA, a union said today.

Poor cleaning arrangements and a lack of resources are exacerbating the problem, a nationwide Unison survey found.

Experts warned there had been little progress since the issue was raised two years ago.

Unison officials called for "urgent action" and the removal of dirty ambulances from service for cleaning.

"Ambulance cleanliness is a key factor in the battle against healthcare-related infections and the standards laid down should be strictly applied and monitored," said Sam Oestreicher, Unison's national officer for ambulance staff.

"The guidance on ambulance infection control is comprehensive, but in practice the essential resources necessary to keep vehicles clean and infection-free are not being provided.

"In many trusts, ambulance crews are responsible for cleaning their own vehicles and this is a waste of their time and training.

"They should be out there saving lives, not mopping out the back of a dirty ambulance.""

Lose weight and improve your health in many ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/steroids.html

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ami.html

vulnerable groups

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

Patients are losing faith in the NHS.

Patients losing faith in the NHS, claims survey

Extract from Sunday Telegraph article:

"Keith Pollard, of the information website Treatment Abroad, who carried out the study, said: "Despite huge investment in the NHS over the past 17 years, patients from the UK are voting with their feet and travelling abroad."

A fifth of those questioned by the Patients Association identified a reduction in waiting times as their main priority.

Fifteen per cent said cuts in hospital infections would make the greatest difference to them and 14 per cent wanted to see more staff on duty.

The findings follow the publication of official figures which show the Government is failing to meet its target for reducing the spread of hospital infections.

Cases of C. diff increased by seven per cent in hospital patients over the age of 65. Cases of MRSA fell by 10 per cent from a high of 7,096, but this was not enough to meet the Government's pledge to halve the rate by next year.

However, despite grave concerns over the NHS, the Patients Association survey found a clear majority rejects any move towards creating an insurance-based health care system on US or French lines.

More than 40 per cent support the current method of funding the NHS through national taxation. Twenty four per cent of those who took part, however, back a tax deductible insurance policy as a way of paying for treatment.

The survey, shows an overwhelming majority want an end to Britain's healthcare "postcode lottery" where availability of drugs and treatments depends on location.

Our findings on the growing number of health tourists provoked an angry response from the Health Secretary, Alan Johnson.

In a letter to The Sunday Telegraph he states: "Most of the treatment carried out overseas is either minor cosmetic surgery or dentistry. Little of the treatment is for general elective surgery, and where it is the majority of people accessing it would probably have gone private in the UK anyway."

The Patients Association is still collecting responses to its survey at www.patientsassociation.org.uk."

In my opinion, the hugely expensive and extremely flawed NHS should be scrapped.

Lose weight and improve your health in many ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/steroids.html

vulnerable groups

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

More about the hospital hygiene problems, C Diff and MRSA...

The Big Question: Why can't we keep our hospitals clean and protect patients from infection? - Independent

Extract:

"Yesterday an investigation by the Healthcare Commission revealed an astonishing litany of failings at three hospitals in Kent run by the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust which allowed the lethal bug Clostridium Difficile to spread unchecked. Between 2004 and 2006 it infected more than 1,100 patients, directly causing the deaths of 90 and contributing to the deaths of 345. The commission found appalling standards, akin to a Third World health service, including beds crammed together, wards dirty and understaffed, and patients with urgent diarrhoea told to "go in the bed" because nurses were too busy to take them to the lavatory.

Is this just an isolated case?

Sadly not – though it is the worst to have come to light. Last year an investigation into a similar outbreak at Stoke Mandeville hospital, where 334 patients were infected and 33 died from C Difficile between 2003 and 2005, painted a very similar picture of a poorly run hospital operating under extreme pressure where doctors and managers had failed to heed warnings about the threat from the bug. Last July, the 900-bed Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS trust in north London became the first in the country to receive an official warning from the commission for putting patients at risk of infection. Serious breaches of the Hygiene Code, introduced in October 2006, which sets minimum standards for all trusts were found at the hospital.

But can we assume that hospitals are generally clean?

No. In June the Healthcare Commission reported that 99 NHS trusts admitted failing to meet minimum hygiene standards. That is one in four of the total in England. Worryingly, Barnet and Chase Farm was not among the 99. It had claimed it was meeting minimum standards but a spot check revealed poor provision of gels for cleaning hands, inconsistent and confusing messages to staff and inadequate isolation facilities. If other trusts are similarly deceived about their performance then hygiene problems may be even more widespread than the one in four figure suggests."