10 Comments »

1. As with most things, its the fact that the very basics have been overlooked and forgotten for too long. Probably from a combination of contract agency and temporary staff. Things like staff uniforms – they used to be kept at the hospitals and changed into when staff got to work then boil washed to kill any bugs. Now the staff go home in them and more than likely get chucked in a 40o wash. Basics like washing hands seems to have been left by the wayside too. If there was less focus on targets and choice and more on the basics then there would be no problems of the scale we now have.

   Ill stop there before i start going on to low standards and the general attitude of just doing enough, like bin men who leave rubbish on the floor and bins where ever they feel like.

   What I cant figure out though, is that if all these jobs contracters now do as its supposedly cheaper, how come council tax keeps going up !

   Sorry for this turning into a general moan lol

   ps wheres all the people leaving comments ? there must be more of you visiting this site !

   Comment by tony — 5 Nov 2004 on 11:57 pm | Link

2. If John Reid had anything about him he would announce that the government would eradicate MRSA in UK hospitals within 12 months.
   Hygiene is at the root of the problem – if employees in commerce can be sacked for introducing viruses onto computers surely hospital staff can be sacked for introducing or spreading MRSA.
   His attitude to saving lives is woeful.

   Comment by Roger Huffadine — 8 Nov 2004 on 3:46 pm | Link

3. Has there been any link to "enhanced or sculpurtured nails" in relation to MRSA. Surely these harbour germs/dirt?

   Comment by sue thomas — 15 Nov 2004 on 9:30 pm | Link

4. MRSA cannot be totally irradicated in our hospitals. MRSA is a resistant form of a commonly occuring bacterium, widely present both in hospitals and in the community. Good hygiene standards MCAN reduce the load, and therefore the risk of a vulnerable individual becoming infected. It often takes expensive and unpleasant antibiotics to kill MRSA, and the use of these adds to the development of further resistance. They therefore need to be used with great wisdom in only the most serious of cases to preserve lives. MRSA is not a problem produced by ‘dirty hospitals’ it is the natural response of bacteria to develop resistance and we have facilitated this by indiscriminate use of antibiotics ever since they were discovered as a therapy. Dust does exacerbate the problem by hosting a reservoir of bacteria which can then get into wounds etc, but it is not the root cause of the problem.

   The survival mechanisms of bacteria are very efficient and adaptive – sure to outwit the government!

   Comment by Nurse — 23 Nov 2004 on 8:59 pm | Link

5. ‘MRSA is not a problem produced by ‘dirty hospitals’…..Dust…exacerbates[s] the problem by hosting a reservoir of bacteria which can then get into wounds etc….’ and ‘Good hygiene standards CAN reduce the load, and therefore the risk of a vulnerable individual becoming infected’

   What’s the difference? If it is known that MRSA has been allowed to flourish through over-prescription of antibiotics, that surely is a scenario about which we can little now. However, good hygiene and dust harbouring germs would appear to be something about which it would be incredibly easy to address.

   Get more cleaners.

   Comment by Ruth Wollacott — 26 Feb 2005 on 3:59 pm | Link

6. The problem is exacerbated by the inefficiencies of modern management, but, as with the need to reform the electoral system, it is doubtful whether constuctive change will occur before the system ultimately defeats itself. In this modern era of trimming wastage and streamlining in most sectors of industry, it is becoming more and more difficult for the upper echelons of management to justify their own existence. This goes for all walks of life, not just industry. And so they introduce increasingly futile initiatives to generate statistics showing how well they are performing as a result of others hard work; at the same time diverting resources away from basic tasks, the results of which they themselves do not have to endure, or rarely at most. Witness the ever increasing levels of bureaucracy in institutions like the NHS as the management seek to distance themselves from the workforce; witness the government constantly setting unrealistic targets, again diverting resources away from basic tasks and requirements – such as standards of hygiene and cleanliness. And as with any statistics-driven walk of life, the figures themselves are open to any interpretation which the government cares to force on the public. Consequently, the situation will only get worse unless the true extent of the problem is publicised – and this is unlikely to happen without any spin being used to once again distort the true picture.

   Comment by PapaLazzzaru — 26 Feb 2005 on 8:36 pm | Link

7. Poo

   Comment by poo — 21 Apr 2005 on 11:02 am | Link

8. Poo

   Comment by poo — 21 Apr 2005 on 11:03 am | Link

9. While hospital staff are allowed to go shopping, to the pub and clean their own houses in their hospital uniforms the risk of MRSA will only get worse. Because of cutbacks, staff are given an allowance to clean their own overalls, it is not the fact that they are washing them at the incorrect temperatures but the fact that before or after work or in working hours they leave the hospital premises to shop go to the pub go to macdonalds, and have a quick clean up at home! Drs are also seen nipping to the shop etc in there theatre greens! THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENS and until this practice is stopped and all overalls and uniforms are only put on on arrival at the place of work and taken of before leaving the place of work and are laundered properly then MRSA will get worse.

   Comment by Maria — 15 Jul 2005 on 4:17 pm | Link

10. All everyone keeps going on about is that MRSA is caused by dirty hospitals, nurses going home in uniforms etc. I am a nurse and the main cause of MRSA in hospitals is actually visitors! So many ordinary people are walking around in society carrying MRSA and don’t even realise it. They don’t wash their hands effectively enough when visiting patients on hospital wards and sit on beds and chairs frequented by patients so are more likely to spread the bacteria without knowing it, but of course it’s always the nurses and the hospitals fault. We, as nurses are made to wear aprons and gloves bafore touching patients so the risk from carrying it on uniforms is practically non existant. There is more risk from Drs who now don’t wear white coats and are wandering around treating patients in their everyday clothes. MRSA will never be totally eradicated in society but by educating the public effectively and not causing outrage by blaming hospitals and nurses it may be better controlled.

    Comment by Jo — 2 Jul 2007 on 6:06 pm | Link

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