LOCAL HOSPITALS LACK SUPERBUG SCREENING POLICY
May 22, 2008 10:30 AM
Several West Midlands hospitals have no policy to routinely screen their staff for hospital superbug MRSA and Clostridium Difficile, research by the Liberal Democrats has revealed.
Of the three hospitals surveyed in the area, Heart of England Trust has no policy of screening staff for MRSA at all, Birmingham Women's Trust only test new staff at their neo-natal intensive care unit and University Hospital Birmingham Trust only screen staff if there is an ongoing superbug outbreak with a proven link. None of the three have a policy to screen staff for C. Diff.
Commenting, local Euro-MP Liz Lynne, Vice President of the European Parliament's Employment and Social Affairs Committee, said:
"This continuing lack of policy on staff screening is shocking and needs changing immediately.
"When it comes to large-scale gestures such as the much publicised one-off 'deep-clean' programme, the government is keen to be seen to act, but figures are showing that this has had a disappointing effect.
"Yet when it comes to fostering a culture of ongoing basic hygiene practice, including regular screening of all healthcare workers, the ministerial silence is deafening."
On lessons to be learned from our European neighbours, Liz added:
"In the Netherlands and Scandinavian countries, staff are routinely screened for MRSA and sent home if found positive, and their infection rates are a fraction of the UK's, yet the lessons aren't being learned here. We need better sharing of information with our neighbours and a European code of conduct to help tackle these deadly infections. Only with sustainable policies can the infection rates be brought down for good."
Nationwide, no trusts surveyed have a policy of screening staff for C. Diff and only 13% of trusts have a staff MRSA screening policy. Only a quarter of Trusts collected data on staff cases of C Diff, and only a third collected data on MRSA.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
Figures released recently by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) suggested that the drop in MRSA rates in recent years has stalled.
Cases in England rose by 0.6% between October and December 2007 to 1,087, a trend reflected in many hospitals across the West Midlands.
The government's target is to reduce MRSA cases to 963 or lower in the April-June 2008 quarter, which it may now be unable to reach.
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