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Page 4 of 9
Thursday, 21 July 2005 10:50
BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk
BACTERIA THREAT TO YOUNG PEOPLE
A toxin found in antibiotic-resistant bacteria is posing an increasing threat to young Britons, experts have warned.

Health experts believe that PVL genes may be behind a spate of MRSA outbreaks in the US which have caused boils, pimples and tissue infections and occasionally flesh eating disorders and pneumonia.

It is thought that the toxin has already killed a young marine in this country by infecting his leg and a 28-year-old woman who died of pneumonia.

US experts believe that one in eight MRSA cases now become infected outside of hospital in the community and although there have only been 100 such cases in Britain in the last three years, doctors are planning emergency checks on the prevalence of PVL.

The toxin is carried by the common bug Staphylococcus which is found on the skin or in the noses of around thirty per cent of the population. Some strains of the bug are known to be resistant to antibiotics.

Dr Enright, an expert from Leeds, said: “If we have a reservoir of these soft tissue infections and boils, if this gets to a serious level in the population, you are going to have significant mortality.

“It gives superficial skin disease in quite high frequency…In a small number of cases it can cause necrotising pneumonia, which is very difficult to treat with antibiotics.”

And he added that any young person who had “a minor wound, scratches and scrapes, for goodness sake, clean it with soap and water”.


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Friday, 15 July 2005 09:35
BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk
U-TURN ON DIRTY HOSPITALS
In mid-May after being appointed Health Secretary, Patricia Hewitt suggested that hospitals could be criminally liable over the spread of superbugs such as MRSA but in a u turn ministers yesterday backed down from the hard-hitting plans on the grounds that such a sanction would be counter-productive.

Launching a consultation on the plans, ministers expressed concern that hospitals might not disclose relevant details in order to avoid prosecution.

In the new consultation document, the Government proposed a new regime in England for tackling health care associated infections (HCAIs), which will form part of a Health Improvement and Protection Bill. The new bill, which ministers hope will be law by next April, pulls together previous voluntary rules and advice about cleaning regimes, infection control and staff hygiene, together with a legal requirement on NHS bodies to "keep so far as reasonably practicable, patients, staff and visitors safe from healthcare-associated infection".

Ms Hewitt said she believed that hospitals would take the new measures "extremely seriously".

"What we wanted was a system that would ensure very fast action and an absolute focus on making our hospitals safe.

"If they are not doing enough to get infections under control and if the Healthcare Commission is telling them `Here are the steps you have got to take in our statutory improvement notice' and they know their jobs are on the line, that is tough stuff and I have no doubt at all it will work”.


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Thursday, 07 July 2005 11:12
BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk
REPORT HIGHLIGHTS HEALTH CARE DISPARITIES
A report by the Health Foundation has revealed serious differences in the performance of the NHS across the UK.

The study found waits for operations to be longer in Wales and Northern Ireland than in England and Scotland, and also highlighted a growing health gap between rich and poor and an “unrelenting rise” in MRSA superbug infections.

In September 2004, 7 per cent of Scottish patients and 9 per cent of English patients had waited more than six months for an operation, compared to 36 per cent of patients in Wales.

In addition, not one Welsh hospital is meeting targets for treating heart attack patients with clot busting drugs within 60 minutes of the call to emergency services.

The Health Foundation said the report was an attempt to rationalise the often-conflicting accounts of health service performance.

Chief executive Stephen Thornton, said: "It's the first time anything like this had been done - giving a clear picture of how the NHS is doing."

He said that the report would be constantly updated to provide a benchmark for policy makers, patients and the media.

A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "We welcome the report which outlines some impressive successes in improving the quality of healthcare in the UK.

"There are significant benefits from knowing this information as it provides a basis for improving the quality of healthcare and performance.

"We will therefore look at this report closely, particularly as in some instances the data used from different sources presents a conflicting picture of performance."


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Thursday, 30 June 2005 10:23
BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk
DOCTORS APPROVE RELIGIOUS HEADWEAR PLANS
The British Medical Association yesterday agreed that hospitals should provide religious headwear to allow doctors to observe religious beliefs.

Doctors said that “theatre hijabs” should be available to Muslim women to enable them to cover their face during operations. Turbans and other headwear should also be available, the conference said.

Any such items would be made from sterile material to avoid aiding the spread of hospital acquired infections such as MRSA.

St Andrews University medical student, Sabrina Talukdar, said that she sometimes experienced problems when taking part in surgery wearing a hijab and that Muslim women were often asked to take them off.

"The 'theatre hijab' would simply be a square piece of sterile theatre cloth, secured with pins, which can be worn in conjunction with a surgical mask for those only wanting to expose their eyes."


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Tuesday, 28 June 2005 10:54
BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk
DOCTORS TO DITCH THEIR TRADITIONAL WHITE COATS
Doctors are looking to ditch their traditional white coats for ER style scrubs to help the fight against superbugs such as MRSA.

The British Medical Association (BMA) was told at its conference in Manchester that rates of hospital-acquired infections, such as MRSA, continued to rise and urgent action was needed to tackle the problem.

The idea of wearing scrubs that was proposed will now go back to the organisation for further consideration.

Dr Andrew Butterworth, a junior doctor from Salford, said: "Health professionals should really lead the way on this and we should take on some responsibility ourselves.

"It has been highlighted that watches, rings, ties, white coats and cuffs have been areas for breeding, or at least holding these infections. I propose that as doctors, nurses and other health professionals we should lead the way by using items of clothing that have been properly laundered by hospitals.

"Given the popularity of hospital-based dramas like ER, it is now acceptable for doctors to wear scrubs in hospitals," he said.

The conference heard that even white coats, taken home by doctors for washing, were no longer acceptable in some hospitals and had been banned.

Not all doctors agreed. Dr Andrew Davis from Cardiff thought hospitals that found it hard to provide parking spaces for doctors would find it even harder to produce a supply of clean clothes. "Scrubs look less professional. Patients would rather see us in clean shirts and ties rather than pouncing around in badly fitting pyjamas," he said.


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Monday, 27 June 2005 10:14
BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk
HYGIENE MORE IMPORTANT THAN CHOICE FOR PATIENTS
A survey by the British Medical Association has found that patients see hospital cleanliness as more important than choice when it comes to hospital spending.

The Government’s flagship health initiative - giving patients a choice of hospitals - came tenth in a poll which asked 2,000 patients to rank 10 NHS spending priorities.

Improving accident and emergency departments was the second most important priority for patients, with shorter waits third.

BMA chairman James Johnson said: "Quite rightly patients want their hospitals to be clean, they want improved A&E services, shorter waits and increased funding for research and new treatment."

"The BMA has been saying for a long time that patients are not so interested in a choice of five hospitals, but they want a good service in a clean, local hospital."

A Department of Health spokesman said that tackling MRSA was a top priority but added that the government believes people want more choice over treatment.

"In national patient surveys, patients are increasingly positive about the quality of their care, but we recognise that there is more to do to ensure that all patients get fairer, faster and better care," he said on the BBC Health website.

"There is clear evidence that patients want more involvement in decisions made about their care and health.

"When we tested this out, the majority of patients offered a choice have taken it."

The top 10 public priorities for health according to the BMA survey were as follows:

Cleaner hospitals - 9.23
Improved A&E - 8.52
Shorter out-patient waits - 8.42
New treatments research - 8.35
Funds for prevention - 8.07
Better out of hours care - 7.89
Extended GP services - 7.83
More time with a doctor - 7.26
Better hospital food - 6.51
Choice of hospital - 6.43


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Monday, 20 June 2005 09:49
BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk
SPOT CHECKS FOR HOSPITALS
The Healthcare Commission, the main NHS inspection body are planning to do random spot-checks on 100 acute, community and mental health hospitals in the NHS and independent sectors.

Commission inspectors will mostly target trusts previously identified as performing badly on cleanliness and will search for superbugs such as MRSA that kills 5,000 patients a year.

The inspectors will also be doing spot checks on high-performing hospitals to try to discover why some hospitals have a higher incidence of the potentially fatal diseases than others.

Healthcare Commission chief executive Anna Walker said: "Patients and the public tell us they are concerned about cleanliness. There is a real danger that this issue could damage confidence in healthcare.

"But there is a shortage of facts and this exercise is about getting those facts.

"That is why we will be sending in our inspectors over the summer. Our aim is learn from best practice and challenge bad practice”.


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Thursday, 16 June 2005 11:22
BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk
HOSPITAL BUG KILLS THREE TIMES AS MANY AS MRSA
The Clostridium difficile bug, reported this week to have killed 12 patients at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital, is killing three times as many NHS patients as MRSA, figures have revealed.

Statistics show that there were 934 deaths attributed to C.difficile in 2003, compared with 321 attributed to MRSA in the same year.

Cases of C.difficile, which causes severe diarrhoea, stand at 43,000 in 2004, double the number from 2001. Deaths have rose by 38 per cent between 2001 and 2003, although this rise is partially attributable to better reporting.

The Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt announced earlier this week that she would launch an investigation into the outbreak of the infection at Stoke Mandeville Hospital.


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Sunday, 12 June 2005 11:27
BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk
ORKNEY OPEN TO MRSA ATTACK
New figures published by the Scottish Executive have singled out Orkney’s hospitals as the least equipped to control hospital infections like MRSA.

NHS Orkney came bottom of a league table after meeting just 22 out of 69 hospital standards implemented to protect patients from hospital acquired infections.

No hospital met all 69 targets but Glasgow University Hospital came closest with 62.

Julie Yates of Western Isles health board insisted that the area had one of the lowest MRSA rates in the country and said that moves had been made to comply with the standards highlighted in the report.


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Friday, 10 June 2005 11:53
BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk
HOSPITAL BIBLES TO STAY
A health trust yesterday decided to continue providing bedside Bibles for patients after plans to remove them led to criticism.

University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust had initially said that the Bibles posed an MRSA risk and may also offend non-Christians.

This drew an angry response from Bible suppliers Gideons International, who called the move “political correctness gone mad”.

Philip Hammersly, the trust chairman, said yesterday: “I can confirm that Gideons Bibles will remain in patient bedside lockers. In addition, information will also be placed in all lockers advising patients that other religious texts are available on request.”


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