NHS infection control: Your views

A small group of NHS trusts is potentially putting patients at risk because of poor infection control, the new health super regulator says.

The Care Quality Commission identified 21 trusts in England which were not doing enough in areas such as cleanliness and decontamination.

BBC News website readers have been sending their own experiences and reactions to this assessment.

My sister caught MRSA after an operation in a brand new hospital. The problem is widespread because there are too many "health super regulators" and not enough nurses. How come? The Army, Navy and Air force have opened to women as combat personnel, when they are needed in hospitals to combat infection. Pay them right, give them humane working conditions and they'll do the job!
Rustle, Paris, France

As a member of Nursing Staff highlighted in the eight Trusts that are responding slow I can tell you that Infection Control is taken very seriously, to the point where staff are leaving a shift with red dry cracked hands due to the amount of times hand washing and alcohol gel is applied during a 12 hour shift! The rates of infections in my hospital have reduced dramatically, I would actually say the standard of care patients are receiving is being neglected due to the Infection Control red tape. Common sense should be used with regards to Infection Control. What should happen is HR Departments and Ward Managers should not be basically bulling their staff to work when they are sick so staff do pass infections on to wards which happens everywhere.
Anonymous

This is shameful from Coventry and Warwickshire. There is no excuse for them to appear in this list as this is a brand new hospital we are talking about! The only reason can be the poor levels of cleaning. Entirely down to outsourcing the cleaning.
Jayne Marshall, Coventry

Simple rules of hygiene and cleanliness! One cleaning a day of patients' toilet and bathroom (shared between 12 people!) is clearly not enough. A quick (but done in slow motion!) wipe of the ward floor is an interesting concept of fighting off infection. And that's not even in one of the Trusts you mentioned!
F Taveau, Beeston

Having been in hospital three times and suffered MRHS twice (I survived) my experience says cut down visiting to two hours daily. Install antiseptic mats at every entrance (changed and cleaned daily), only two visitors at the bedside. And discharge the cleaner who just walks into the ward pushing his/her mobile headed broom, sweeps the walkways (not under the beds) and exits, at a speed that is never likely to raise dust.
David Gaines, Hayes

I've been in hospital a few times over the last years and every time I get nose swabbed, groin swabbed to check whether I carrying the infection. The wards have been cleaned by teams of people whilst I've been there. However do the administrators not realise that a lot of these people are travelling to and from work in uniform on public transport. Goodness knows what germs they're picking up. People in glasshouses, etc.
Dave Pollard, Manchester

There is no point in issuing fines to publicly funded organisations - it simply punishes the very people funding the service - the public. The only way to deal with this is to make individuals personally accountable. Without personal accountability you will not get personal responsibility.
Fiona Torrilla, East Grinstead

Immediately prior to my partner's recent sinus operation, carrying risk of infection via cut nasal passages, the operating surgeon/doctor sat on her bed for some while. He was in ordinary clothes including cord trousers. A nurse later saw this and hovered behind him with a chair which he then sat on. The ward manager later said she would be giving him a severe talking to. Visitors are also sitting on patient's' bedside chairs. This is all very disturbing in view of this hospital's past bad record of MSRA and other infection. To reduce infection risk, I believe all staff should change into and out of a complete set of fresh, daily internally washed & sterilised clothing/uniform, underwear, socks and shoes at hospitals and not wear them outside. They should also regularly each day have to walk through a disinfectant mist.
John Dutton, Tunbridge Wells

The CQC actually commends progress in the NHS and only 8 Trusts are conditionally registered because of failure to reach care standards criteria. Don't let the Beeb become a tabloid, let's have the truth, not scaremongering.
Derek Shields, Hull

I listened to Cynthia Bowen's interview this morning and was shocked to hear her political approach to answering the questions posed. This is not a political issue it is a public health one. It is also surprising how standards have been allowed to drop and how it takes an overall watchdog to police something as fundamental as hygiene - which has been known for the best part of 100 years.

It is astonishing that Bowen thinks that prosecution and fines are appropriate sanctions to make a trust comply - how will reducing their available revenue improve the situation? Surely somebody needs to get fired.
Geoff Lawrence, Wokingham

When I see nurses in the supermarket and on the buses with their uniform on I wonder where else they wear them. Is it not common sense that cleanliness starts with the nurses and doctors? Therefore, I believe that they should get to work, shower and put on a pre laundered outfit before stepping onto the wards.
Louise Gill, Staffs

I have worked in the NHS for 33 years. I have seen many, many changes. Many for the better. Technology is far more advanced and hospitals are much busier and can save many lives of patients that would once have died. This means that many elderly who may have died years ago now survive. Patients leave hospital earlier after surgery or treatment when once they would have been in longer. This is a good move. However this therefore creates more turnover in hospitals. The cleanliness is far worse, the pay for the cleaners and porters is very poor and to get people to work overtime or unsociable hours. Therefore, there are never enough cleaners, housekeepers or porters available. So the work does not get done or the nurses do it and therefore do not get to do the jobs they should be doing. Many areas need cleaning more often as the business creates more dust/ dirt. Many wards are covered by agency staff and this is extremely unsafe.
Anonymous

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version