Hospitals pay out in £3.7m MRSA fight (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Hospitals pay out in £3.7m MRSA fight

7:29am Wednesday 30th July 2008

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Bradford hospital chiefs have been forced to spend £3.7million on a huge clean-up operation or risk multi-million pound fines if outbreaks of deadly superbugs are not controlled.

The investment is paying for a hygiene “turn-around” programme to drive down outbreaks of MRSA and C-Difficile at Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke’s Hospital.

The drastic action was taken after it was revealed that the Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust would need to cut cases of MRSA at its hospitals by more than half to meet targets.

Now, for the first time, hospital bosses have disclosed the full cost of the hygiene programme which started in April. But earlier this month, a report to the Trust’s board warned that there remained a “significant risk” of not hitting targets set out by independent health watchdog, The Healthcare Commission, of no more than 22 cases of MRSA and 282 of C. Difficile during the year. If the Trust exceeds the targets, it could be fined up to £4m.

Since April there has been ten cases of MRSA at Bradford hospitals which is above expectations.

Matrons are now in charge of monitoring cleanliness and wards are subjected to spot checks by staff, governors and the Primary Care Trust (PCT).

Miles Scott, chief executive of Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Hospital Trust, said it was making “excellent progress” since the programme started with MRSA figures down a third on last year.

“We are confident that we will continue to improve and that we offer safe, high-quality services for our patients,” he said.

Details of the huge cost of the cleaning programme have been revealed following the death of a Bradford pensioner of MRSA at Bradford Royal Infirmary earlier this month .

Doctors were unable to save Alan Beech, 67, of Pyrah Street, Wyke, after the killer infection spread to his spine. He had to be admitted to the hospital for a second time following complications after a routine operation.

His widow, Gloria, whom he married from his hospital bed just three weeks before he died, his daughter, Paula Mann, and his brother, Trevor, believe Mr Beech contracted MRSA at BRI, when he underwent an operation in February to ease bad circulation in his leg.

They branded cleanliness in some of the hospital wards at the time as “disgusting”.

Mrs Beech, 62, said: “The York Suite, where Alan died is marvellous but I can’t say that for the other wards, they were really bad.

“Alan was in ward 26 one day when I went and he had this wound in his groin which they used to come in and clean. The swab was left on the floor at the side of his bed.

“The patients all walked about with bandages that were full of blood and it was all over the ward floor.”

She added: “I really think they should be more diligent with using the hand wash. People just walk in and out without using it, even the nursing staff. I used to have to tell them to clean their hands.”

Mrs Mann added: “They need to have more cleaners who are sent to a ward to keep an eye on things, because the contract cleaners seem to be wiping the muck round and round. It needs deep cleaning because it is so easy to pick up infections.”

Part-time taxi driver Mr Beech was tested for MRSA before he underwent the initial operation in February but it was only after surgeons had operated that test results showed he had contracted MRSA.

He later had to have his leg amputated when he developed gangrene and lost half of his 14-stone body weight before he died.

His brother, Trevor, of Scholes, near Cleckheaton, questioned why the hospital allowed him to undergo the initial operation before he was given the all-clear for MRSA.

He said: “They swabbed him for MRSA before he went in and then he had the operation and when he came out, he has MRSA. We said, ‘why did you cut into him rather than give him antibiotics for MRSA?’ They said they had not had the results of the swab back and didn’t know.

“They said they had to operate to save his life.”

Trust chief executive Mr Scott admitted that there was “always work to be done” in making sure the BRI maintains the highest levels of cleanliness.

But, he said: “In recent months, we have put into place a major hospital hygiene turn-around programme, investing £3.7 million.

“We have introduced an additional monthly programme of spot checks, covering all aspects of the Hygiene Code, which will be carried out by various members of staff, governors and the PCT.

“Matrons are leading the monitoring of cleanliness and we are also continuing deep cleaning, the cleaning of hands campaign and the screening of patients for MRSA.

“We are already making excellent progress, with MRSA rates falling after high rates of compliance with hand washing. Cases of MRSA are more than 30 per cent down on figures for the same period last year.

“We are confident that we will continue to improve and that we offer safe, high-quality services for our patients.”

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