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Monday, 13 March 2006 11:26
BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk
Government ‘slow to act over MRSA’
Health officials are still to decide which trusts are to be visited by MRSA “hit squads” a month after the plans were announced, the BBC has reported.

In February, ministers said that teams would be sent into the 20 trusts with the “biggest MRSA challenges”, but since then only three have begun.

When she announced the specialist teams a month ago, health minister Jane Kennedy said that half of trusts were not meeting MRSA targets. The same day she announced teams would be sent to three trusts, Sandwell, Northumbria and Aintree, who had volunteered for help.

But in the subsequent weeks no more trusts have been allocated teams.

The Department of Health said it had always planned to allocate teams over the coming months and denied undue delays.

A spokesman said: "It is not taking a long time - it is actually quite a sensible way of doing things."

He said that those with the worst records on MRSA could change from month to month and added that trusts needed to volunteer for the help.

Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said he had repeatedly pressed the government to take urgent action to deal with the risk of infection.

"Time and again they talk about what they are going to do and it's never pursued with the necessary urgency.

"Talk is cheap but lives are at risk," he said.

"If these hits squads are to be effective then it is urgent they do their work."

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Steve Webb said: "This sounds incredibly lethargic and lacking in urgency and the fact that this is voluntary is unbelievable.

"We keep hearing from ministers about task forces and action plans but what is it that stops them from taking MRSA seriously?

"It seems to be yet another symptom of the fact that they are not tackling this problem with the urgency it deserves.

"The problem would be made even worse if the present financial crisis is leading to the loss of frontline staff in infection control."

Mike Hayward, nurse adviser for acute and emergency care at the Royal College of Nursing, said it was rumoured that infection control nursing posts had been frozen in some cash-strapped trusts.

"It would be a false economy to cut these posts at a time when MRSA and other health care-associated infections are a number one priority in the public mind and also a key government target," he said.

He added: "The RCN wants to see a strategic plan from the Department of Health on exactly how these hit squads are going to work and how they're being utilised."

Officials were not moving as quickly as they could be, he said.


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