Hospital infections...

[captainnemo]

How many people are satisfied with the current state of our hospitals?

The outbreak of C. Diff in Kent that killed over 90 was only one of a series that have killed thousands across the country and surely it is not beyond the wit of man to see where the problems lie.

The chief exec at Kent was more concerned with managing a deficit than managing health care but she has been handsomely rewarded for overseeing what in effect constituted culpable homicide. They talk about the infections in terms of being terribly difficult to control but surely simple cleanliness can't be that difficult to achieve in a hospital.

Consider the changes that have led to the current state of affairs. Nurses now wear their uniforms to travel, hospital laundry has been out-sourced and the nurses now see themselves as above the grubby business of cleaning bedpans and changing sheets. The old hierarchy of matron, sister nurse may have been archaic but it worked. The most important memory those of a certain age will retain of hospitals will always be the smell, soap and disinfectant.

Places used to smell of what they were, a shoeshop didn't smell like a sweetshop while a chemist didn't smell like a grocers. Hospitals nowadays can routinely smell of faeces in places and the hygiene regime is unsatisfactory.

Obviously many nurses continue to do a great job despite the circumstances but let's not kid ourselves that there is still an army of angels in the NHS immune from criticism, the reports of nurses telling patients to 'go in the bed' were true and unacceptable. That the beds were almost touching is even more shocking.

It would be nice if the massive investment of the past decade in the NHS had brought more positive benefits. Surely there must be enough in the kitty to buy some soap, disinfectant and the hands to use it.

[paramedic paul]

Only a small part of the problem i know but i'll see if I can find the research which showed that the biggest single problem causing the spread of MRSA was actually the hospital visitors!

Don't know about C Diff though!

[dry suit diver]

Originally Posted by paramedic paul

Only a small part of the problem i know but i'll see if I can find the research which showed that the biggest single problem causing the spread of MRSA was actually the hospital visitors!

Don't know about C Diff though!

I will agree, and even the alco gel dispensers provided don't get used enough.

a quick survey whilst waiting for the ward to open for visiting showed only 3% uptake when SWMBO was in having sprog 2. appalling.

[Steve S]

Originally Posted by paramedic paul

Only a small part of the problem i know but i'll see if I can find the research which showed that the biggest single problem causing the spread of MRSA was actually the hospital visitors!

Don't know about C Diff though!

Yep, when we went to see Jack in the Coronary care high dependency unit me and Bully washed our hands with the alcohol gel on the entrance and were followed in by two people who didn't.

Safe diving,
Steve

P.S. Nemo, Gordon Brown has already stopped the payment being made to the CEO.

[captainnemo]

Unfair to blame hospital visitors. I was in hospital during the 60s and they had visitors back then.....but curiously there was not much in the way of hospital acquired infection...certainly not to the extend that dozens could die in an outbreak while the chief exec gets a pat on the back for 'good work'.

Apparently Adam Crozier got over 600K bonus for his efforts at the Post Office (or Consignia or whatever daft title they decide on next)

What happened to the old-fashioned concept of payment for results? The Kent chief would get jail and Crozier would owe the PO money but perhaps it would spur some of the other paper-clip counters to pull their collective fingers out.

[captainnemo]

I recall Alan Johnson saying he was going to stop the payment and almost immediately being contradicted since the decision is nothing to do with the Health Secretary. Not sure that GB can do anything either. The matter should never have been up for consideration in the first instance.

[Steve S]

Originally Posted by captainnemo

I recall Alan Johnson saying he was going to stop the payment and almost immediately being contradicted since the decision is nothing to do with the Health Secretary. Not sure that GB can do anything either. The matter should never have been up for consideration in the first instance.

I read they stopped the payment because it could be classed as illegal, and have instructed authorities not to offer such payments in the future.

Safe diving,
Steve

[Lazlo]

Originally Posted by captainnemo

I was in hospital during the 60s and they had visitors back then.....but curiously there was not much in the way of hospital acquired infection...

But how would you know?

In t' olden days people were happy that there was an NHS at all...

[captainnemo]

Well there was nothing in the media, I can't remember people keeling over on the ward while I was there and there was that distinct smell of cleanliness rather than decay. I agree that this might not be conclusive evidence but something tells me that if there had been a serious problem in the 40s, 50s, 60s or 70s it would have been picked up on.

Esther Rantzen would have been on something like that like a terrier on a rat.

[Kalahari Diver]

The real problem is the reduction in the number of beds! When the government proposed fewer beds and higher patient densities they were warned that this would lead to higher infection rates because the very fast turnaround made deep cleaning impossible. They were rubbished as "the forces of conservatism" and now lots of people have died.

I am afraid blame your friendly local politician.

David.