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.

Doctors and nurses who do not wash their hands could be sacked under new "zero tolerance" rules to prevent the spread of superbugs.

Doctors and nurses to be sacked if they do not wash their hands
article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"The tough rules on hand hygiene will be applied to Scottish hospitals from January.

Those who repeatedly fail to comply with hand washing guidelines have been warned they could face disciplinary action when the new rules are implemented.

Ministers previously set a 90 per cent target for handwashing, to be met by February next year.

But they believe that target has already been achieved ahead of schedule and the health boards are being told to target the remaining ten per cent of staff who fail to keep their hands clean.

An aide to Scottish health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said it was "unacceptable" for medical staff to flout hygiene rules.

He said: "Hand hygiene is an important part of our drive to tackle healthcare associated infection. NHS Scotland has met the target to achieve at least 90 per cent compliance.

"We are now adopting a zero tolerance approach to non compliance and all Boards are expected to implement this policy from January 2009.""

I'll believe it if/when it happens! - Is this intended just for Scotland?

There is a long tradition of doctors harming their patients because of not washing their hands, e.g. many years ago many women died in childbirth because of doctors not washing their hands prior to examining patients and the women caught puerperal fever, which killed them. - See http://www.jameslindlibrary.org/trial_records/19th_Century/semmelweis/semmelweis_commentary.html

Nine out of ten NHS health trusts failed to meet hygiene standards put in place to reduce hospital infections, according to results of spot checks.

Health trusts fail hygiene tests designed to stop infections
article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"The Healthcare Commission tested 51 trusts unannounced and found that only five adhered to Government rules. Its sample represents around a third of acute health trusts in England and were part of the largest ever programme of hygiene inspections in the NHS.

While most of the failures did not pose an immediate risk to patient safety, the Commission found almost all acute trusts had more work to do to control the spread of infection.

In the areas where breaches did cause a serious risk, managers were told to take immediate action.

Three trusts were given improvement notices to tackle failures in decontamination processes.

Just over half of the 51 trusts failed to keep all areas clean and well-maintained, the Commission said.

However, it found that most had improved in relation to leadership and ensuring uniforms were clean and fit for purpose."

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 acquired infections or medical errors are more likely to cause death than extreme sports like high-altitude mountaineering and bungee-jumping

NHS hospitals more dangerous than bungee-jumping
Article in the Sunday Telegraph

Extract:

"The risks from infection, mistakes over drugs and failings in care mean that nearly one in 100 patients admitted to an NHS hospital will die an avoidable death, compared with one in 1,000 of those taking part in dangerous sports.

The findings define health care as a "hazardous activity" for patients and compare it unfavourably with air travel and the nuclear power industry, both of which carry a one in 100,000 risk.

The research, which was compiled by the NHS National Patient Safety Agency and the health care charity, the Health Foundation, reveals that up to 104,000 patients die each year as a result of poor infection management and basic medical errors."

I'd say this is a gross underestimate of the harm done by hospitals and by doctors.

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."

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."

NHS Trust hospital is warned about poor hygiene and infection control practice

NHS trust warned over hygiene breaches

Extract from the Telegraph:

"An NHS trust has been given a warning after inspectors found filthy commodes and bloodstains on a bed rail and wall.

The Healthcare Commission served Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust with an improvement notice over poor practice in tackling infection control.

Thick layers of dust and evidence of poor decontamination procedures for surgical equipment were also found by investigators.

The trust runs three hospitals in south London: the Princess Royal University Hospital, Orpington Hospital and Beckenham Hospital.

The commission carried out an unannounced inspection at the Princess Royal University Hospital on Jan 21 and 22.

It found that the trust was "failing in its duty to provide and maintain a clean and appropriate environment for health care".

Geoff Martin, of the campaign group Health Emergency, said: "Bromley Hospitals has one of the biggest debts anywhere in the country, of almost £100 million.

"They are cutting corners on cleaning because they have been effectively bankrupted by the cost of a PFI deal at the Princess Royal. This is the harsh reality of PFI coming home to roost.""

Female Muslim medics 'disobey hygiene rules'

Female Muslim medics 'disobey hygiene rules'

Extract from the Sunday Telegraph:

"Muslim medical students are refusing to obey hygiene rules brought in to stop the spread of deadly superbugs, because they say it is against their religion.

Women training in several hospitals in England have raised objections to removing their arm coverings in theatre and to rolling up their sleeves when washing their hands, because it is regarded as immodest in Islam.

Universities and NHS trusts fear many more will refuse to co-operate with new Department of Health guidance, introduced this month, which stipulates that all doctors must be "bare below the elbow".

The measure is deemed necessary to stop the spread of infections such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile, which have killed hundreds.

Minutes of a clinical academics' meeting at Liverpool University revealed that female Muslim students at Alder Hey children's hospital had objected to rolling up their sleeves to wear gowns.

Similar concerns have been raised at Leicester University. Minutes from a medical school committee said that "a number of Muslim females had difficulty in complying with the procedures to roll up sleeves to the elbow for appropriate handwashing".

Sheffield University also reported a case of a Muslim medic who refused to "scrub" as this left her forearms exposed.

Documents from Birmingham University reveal that some students would prefer to quit the course rather than expose their arms, and warn that it could leave trusts open to legal action.

Hygiene experts said last night that no exceptions should be made on religious grounds."

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

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

Warning about NHS superbugs went unheeded...

Labour failed to heed NHS superbugs warning - Sunday Telegraph

Extracts:

"They were told last October, in a confidential memo which The Sunday Telegraph has seen, that hospitals were not taking the problem seriously and that £270 million was needed urgently to combat the bug. But Labour provided just £50 million, topped up by another £50 million this summer as public concern grew. The memo was written by Liz Woodeson, the head of the Department of Health's infection unit, just a month after Britain's biggest superbug outbreak infected 1,100 patients at three Kent hospitals, killing 90 and contributing to the deaths of 240.

Miss Woodeson warned the then health secretary Patricia Hewitt that "virtually all trusts" were reporting outbreaks. "We suspect some trusts simply see it as an unavoidable fact of hospital life," she said.

Miss Woodeson added that £270 million should be invested in efforts to combat bugs, including £200 million on isolation rooms.

Cases have risen five-fold in the past decade, with 55,000 now reported annually, while the number of deaths linked to it tripled over four years to reach almost 4,000 by 2005.

Clostridium difficile is a highly contagious bacterium commonly caught from touching contaminated surfaces."

"A Healthcare Commission investigation into Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust found "significant failings" in infection control at three of its hospitals between April 2004 and September 2006. They included unwashed bedpans, a lack of isolation units and beds too close together.

Maidstone's MP Ann Widdecombe, cared for her mother Rita at home until her death in May aged 95 rather than send her to Maidstone Hospital.

She said: "Old folk go into our hospitals and die of dehydration because drips run out. They starve when trays are taken away with meals untouched. They ring bells for nurses which are ignored."

Police and the Health and Safety Executive are investigating the Kent outbreak."

NHS trust hospitals are not taking basic steps to stop the spread of infection

Hospital failings allow superbugs to spread - Telegraph

Extracts:

"Thousands of patients risk contracting potentially deadly superbugs because NHS hospitals are not taking basic steps to stop the spread of infection, research for The Daily Telegraph reveals today.

An independent study of 167 NHS hospital trusts in England found that infection control was in a state of disarray, with hospitals unable to reassure the public that they are screening and isolating enough infected patients.

Only 10 of the trusts surveyed could provide data showing that they had isolated more than 90 per cent of individuals with MRSA - a standard that infection control experts regard as fundamental in the battle against hospital-acquired bugs. "

"Deaths linked to hospital superbugs have increased dramatically.

Government figures show that between 2004 and 2005, the number of deaths recorded as associated with MRSA rose 39 per cent. Those that mentioned Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) rose by 69 per cent. Data from the Office for National Statistics showed that mentions of C. difficile on death certificates rose from 2,247 in 2004 to 3,807 the following year, while mentions of MRSA rose from 1,168 to 1,629."


Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)