BRITISH GOVERNMENT ALL TALK ABOUT DANGEROUS HOSPITALS

Independent health investigators will launch a blitz on hospital cleanliness amid concerns that the Government has been too slow to act over the MRSA superbug. Despite pledges to send in "hit squads" to establish which are Britain's dirty hospitals, no action has been taken. Last year John Reid, the Health Secretary at the time, ordered hospitals to cut rates of MRSA bloodstream infection by half by March 2008. Now the independent Healthcare Commission has taken the initiative, telling hospital chief executives that it will carry out unannounced assessments of about 100 NHS and private hospitals. The Commission believes that fears over MRSA (methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and other hospital bugs are seriously damaging confidence in the health industry.

Andrew Lansley, the Shadow Health Secretary said last night that it was about time that a sense of urgency was injected into the issue of hospital cleanliness. Almost 1,000 deaths a year are directly attributed to MRSA. The number of deaths in which it was a factor have doubled in five years.

The Healthcare Commission, the main regulator for the health service and independent care, plans to name badly performing hospitals in a report to be produced by autumn of this year. Inspectors will give no warning of visits and staff will be expected to co-operate fully in the examinations of wards, outpatient areas and accident and emergency departments. The commission plans to follow the spot checks with a three-year review of infection and control. Hospitals identified as bad performers will be rechecked again to see if they have cleaned themselves up.

Mr Lansley said: "As long as it is backed up with support from the health department and with the necessary resources and technology to deliver infection control, we might see real progress." The move comes as the Government prepares to publish the latest figures on MRSA this week and days before a critical parliamentary committee report on the issue. Inspectors will go to 100 acute, community and mental health hospitals in both the public and private sectors; there are around 1,000 NHS and 400 independent hospitals in all. The audit, designed to give a picture of hospital cleanliness in Britain, will concentrate on trusts that have been identified as poor performers. It will also include some of the best performers to show how they have improved standards

From The Times

***************************

For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL hospitals and health insurance schemes should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the very poor and minimal regulation.

Comments? Email me here. If there are no recent posts here, the mirror site may be more up to date. My Home Page is here or here.

***************************