Superbug death was 'diabolical'

The widow of a man who fell victim to a superbug that has claimed 17 lives at a Norfolk hospital yesterday described his death as "diabolical" - reports the Sunday Telegraph.

Great-grandfather Leslie Burton-Pye, 74, was infected with Clostridium difficile in January while visiting the James Paget Hospital in Gorleston for a blood transfusion.

He fell ill soon after and was admitted to the hospital where he stayed until released in mid-March. He was re-admitted last Sunday and died the next day.

Yesterday, his widow, Mavis, 67, said: "I wish I hadn't let him go in for the transfusion. He had health problems before then but he lived with them and was okay up to the point where he went to hospital. It is heartbreaking."

Mrs Burton-Pye, who lived with her husband in the Norfolk Broads town of Acle, added: "He had just gone into hospital for some blood and picked this bug up. It is absolutely diabolical that he caught this thing on just a routine visit. I just can't believe he has gone. It won't sink in."

She said Mr Burton-Pye's family - including five children, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren - had been devastated by his death.

Bosses at the hospital, which has been infected with the virulent "027" strain of the superbug, admit it could take 12 weeks to get the outbreak under control.

The 17 deaths, almost all of people aged 65 and over, have occurred since December. Sixteen more patients have been infected but survived.

The hospital has invested an extra £400,000 to tackle the outbreak but Wendy Slaney, the acting chief executive of the hospital, said it could take months to bring under control.

Perhaps the problem could be solved more quickly and more deaths avoided, if the trust had more money to invest in tackling it.

Sadly local MP Tony Wright intends to vote to improve government plans to hand 60% extra - £2.5bn more a year - to the EU ... a body that hasn't had its accounts approved for 12 years in a row.

What a waste of money, some of which could have been put to better use in his own constituency. A choice that's likely to be very hard to justify to local voters come the next election, when we point out such irresponsible actions with public funds.

NHS cuts 'hit antenatal classes'

Hospitals in parts of England and Wales are reducing or even axing services for pregnant women because of the NHS's financial problems.

Antenatal classes and breastfeeding tuition are being affected, the National Childbirth Trust (NCT) and Royal College of Midwives have told the BBC.

They said women were being deprived of much-needed advice and support.

Antenatal classes set out what happens in labour and what options women have about how to give birth, as well as offering breastfeeding advice and information on what to expect in the first few weeks as a parent.

The National Service Framework on maternity services, published in 2004, said good antenatal care should include providing access to parenting education and preparation for birth.

Whether or not services are provided depends on local primary care trusts, who pay the local hospital to provide them.

The NCT, which provides paid-for antenatal classes for women, started to compile reports from members about local cuts last October.

So far it has been told 19 areas across England and Wales have either cut or closed antenatal classes or visits to maternity units.

Belinda Phipps, chief executive of the NCT, said: "So much of the NHS is closing antenatal classes down. There are a lot of people who would have gone to those classes, but they can't."

Ms Phipps said there were also anecdotal reports that postnatal midwife visits, designed to check on the health of the mother and the baby, were also being reduced.

Mervi Jokinen, of the Royal College of Midwives, said: "The NHS is in grave difficulties financially.

"With maternity services, they have looked at what they can leave out. We understand that a concerning amount of antenatal classes are being cut.

"NCT classes are very good, but women and their partners don't get to know the midwives they will be seeing when they have their babies, like they do with NHS classes."

One of the areas which has been hit is Maidstone in Kent, where antenatal classes were cut from four sessions to one in October last year.

But Tracey Jewsbury, the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NCT representative, said that its most recent event was inundated, with 300 parents attending.

She said the new arrangements would penalise those who could not access or afford the £150 charge for NCT classes.

"People are desperate for information. But we are definitely heading for a two-tier system."

In Romsey, Hampshire, NHS antenatal classes were cut completely last June.

Instead, midwives go to women's homes for a longer than normal 36-week check and give them information about what to expect during labour and birth then.

Local NCT representative Barbara Wyant said: "It doesn't really seem to be an economy. If they are going out to do longer visits with each woman, they won't be able to see as many people."

Maria Dore, senior midwifery manager at Southampton University Healthcare Trust, said: "We have been very open about the pressure we are under to provide a safe, high-quality maternity service for everyone as the birth rate in this area continues to rise.

"One of the steps we have been forced to take in order to maintain safety is restricting the number of antenatal classes that are offered by our maternity staff."

Liberal Democrat health spokeswoman and Romsey MP Sandra Gidley has written to ministers about the cuts to classes.

A former NCT teacher, she said it would be the most deprived families who would suffer. "The people who are most in need are the ones least able to access information."

Jo Webber, deputy director of policy at the NHS Confederation - which represents over 90% of NHS organisations, said: "We would not want women to be going through pregnancy without all of the relevant information.

"It is especially important that women living in deprived areas receive this information and support - as historically it would seem they do not tend to try and access antenatal services.

Sandra Gidley MP may well be protesting to ministers about cuts to classes in her Romsey constituency and beyond. But as the problems are being caused by the NHS's financial problems, if she then approves wasting billions of pounds that could solve the problems on the EU, those protests will surely be seen as nothing more than posturing.

Bolton: Union not looking at action over cuts

UNISON members will not take industrial action over Bolton Council's planned £10.6 million in cuts - reports The Bolton News.

Natalie Mills, spokesman for Unison, said: "We are not looking at industrial action at this stage because many of the members are worried about their jobs.

Up to 400 employees have had to take a pay cut because of changes to their working terms and conditions.

Among the cuts, around £4.6 million is being slashed from the adult services and culture and community cohesion budgets, accounting for 130 lost posts and the closure of the Manor Court care home in Harwood will save £820,000 with the loss of 50 jobs.

Green light given to empty bins every 2 weeks

A weekly visit from the binmen is increasingly under threat as councils come under mounting pressure to switch to fortnightly refuse collections - reports the Daily Telegraph.

So far, about one third of the 300 waste authorities in England, covering about 10 million households, are experimenting with reduced collections.

The issue has triggered controversy, with councils being accused of cutting services under cover of going 'green', while also hitting people with above-inflation council tax rises which are supposed to pay for the service.

Eric Pickles, the Tory local government spokesman, pointed out that: "Refuse collection for some people without children is the single biggest thing they actually get for their council tax."

The move is suspected to be a first steps towards a new "rubbish tax", charging householders for what they put out for collection.

If the government is so short of money that it has to pressure councils to cut back on essential services, for which householders already pay an ever-increasing council tax bill, then it's time to consider where public money is being wasted.

For example, are MPs really going to vote to approve rewarding the chronically wasteful EU with the massive 60% increase in payments that Tony Blair promised - while Britain's rubbish starts piling up, or a new 'rubbish tax' is imposed?

If the EU is responsible for lumping extra costs on councils for sending waste to landfill, then it's only fair the money to pay those extra costs comes from cutting the extra billions Blair has already pledged to hand over to the EU's budget.

The EU can't have it both ways. Though it may come as a shock to EU law-makers, given the lavish surroundings they enjoy in Brussels at our expense, public money isn't unlimited.

So are MPs prepared to block the extra Blair promised the EU, to keep essential services up to standard? Sadly it seems many actually intend to not only throw billions away on payments to the audit-failing EU budget, but ALSO expect local voters to put up with reduced services or higher taxes.

Those MPs in marginal seats supporting such a plan can only have given up hope of being re-elected already.

Bin collections being cut to every fortnight

More homes could see the end of weekly bin collections after a government report played down claims of fortnightly collections causing hygiene problems, reports the BBC.

Many councils have already adopted a policy of collecting general waste fortnightly - with many picking up recyclable rubbish on alternate weeks.

The research into waste collections - funded by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) - found that if waste was properly wrapped there should be no hygiene concerns.

However some residents in areas where rubbish is collected fortnightly have complained of more rats, maggots and nasty odours.

Doretta Cocks, a Hampshire housewife who campaigns against fortnightly collections, says they are "not adequate" and "compromise public health".

She says her bin gives off an "awful smell" after 10 days, despite the rubbish being double-wrapped.

One third of English councils have already phased out weekly collections of general waste. Similarly, half of Welsh councils and many Northern Irish authorities already carry out less frequent collections.

Councils claim that the move to less frequent rubbish collections is more about encouraging recycling than cost-cutting. But is it becoming too much to ask that our streets are kept clean and our bins emptied?

Certainly if local authorities can no longer afford weekly bin collections, the time has come to cut wasteful spending elsewhere. Payments to an audit-failing and extremely wasteful EU must surely be a prime candidate for the chop.

Community causes hit to meet soaring costs of Olympics

In a Times report today on the rising costs of the London Olympics, there's greater focus on the effect on the National Lottery and the good causes it supports.

The report claims that "thousands of community projects" covering health, education, arts and sport face cuts or closures over the next five years to fund the new £9.3bn bill, and reveals that, as well as the lottery contributions, Gordon Brown had to raid £5bn more from Whitehall departments.

What impact will that have on the services they provide?

Apparently the Chancellor had been pressing for a much larger contribution of £2bn from the National Lottery. Not surprising, when Tony Blair committed him to handing a net total of £36bn to the EU - completely without justification - between now and 2012.

Though it remains to be seen whether MPs will approve that bad EU budget deal.

The National Lottery was already set to contribute £1.5 billion to the Olympics costs. Further calls on its funds will inevitably have a huge impact on services.

While grants till 2009 will apparently be protected, thousands of new groups applying for cash in the next five years are likely to be turned down.

Big losers

The Big Lottery Fund, which supports tens of thousands of community projects, is to lose 17.5% of its funding, totalling an extra £425 million over four years.

The Arts Council England faces an extra £62 million cut, the Heritage Fund will lose £90 million and Sport England will lose £55 million during the same period.

The Times report also provides more information about where Ken Livingstone will find the extra £300 million he now has to contribute - without putting up council tax.

Livingstone is also said to have pledged to protect transport fares, but his office said the funding would be shared between Transport for London and the London Development Agency.

Peter Hewitt, chief executive of Arts Council England, said he was deeply disappointed that more money was to be diverted away from the arts.

He said, “The impact is likely to be felt across the whole of England and disproportionately by smaller arts organisations, local projects and individual artists — the main recipients of our lottery funds,” Mr Hewitt said.

Dame Liz Forgan, chairwoman of the Heritage Lottery Fund, said that the cuts were “bad news for the UK’s heritage” and that she expected libraries and museums to face serious cutbacks.

She said, “In recent years our lottery money has been the single largest source of support not only for our historic places, museums and galleries but also for our natural heritage and the cultural history of the people of these islands.”

Derek Mapp, the chairman of Sport England, said: “The decision to divert a further £55.9 million of Sport England’s share of lottery income between 2009 and 2012 to fund the Olympics and Paralympics seriously endangers the creation of a sporting legacy from the 2012 Games.”

Sir Clive Booth, chair of the Big Lottery Fund said that the Government’s decision to divert £425 million from its good-causes resources “will be a cause of concern for many organisations across the UK”.

Yet depriving money from good uses and causes in all these areas wouldn't be necessary if the government weren't wasting such an unjustifiably large amount of money on the EU.

Will MPs take the right decision when the EU budget deal comes before Parliament, and choose to countermand Blair's waste, save the money and prevent these cuts instead?

In the real world of finite government resources, MPs must take difficult choices and ask: who deserves those tens of billions of pounds more?

Good causes? Or an organisation with a terrible reputation for waste and fraud, that hasn't had its accounts approved by auditors for twelve years running?

No contest, surely.

Olympics budget rises to £9.3bn

The accuracy of an earlier BBC revelation about the rising budget for the 2012 London Olympics was confirmed today.

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell told the House of Commons that the costs have risen to £9.35bn - nearly four times the original £2.4bn estimate.

Construction costs are now set the reach £5.3bn and there is a £2.7bn "contingency fund". Tax and security costs have also risen.

It was also confirmed that, as the Treasury is not able to cover these rises, both lottery funds and London taxpayers will foot a large part of the extra bill.

In raiding the lottery in particular for a further £675m to make up the shortfall, the government will not just penalise small sports clubs and organisations up and down the country that are supposed to benefit from the Olympics, but many other good charitable causes besides.

Overall, the government's contribution will now be £6bn, with £2.2bn coming from the National Lottery - including the extra £675m - and the rest from London's council tax payers.

London's contribution will be an extra £300 million, but as Mayor Ken Livingstone has said that the money will not be raised from higher council tax, it's not clear which public services or works are are going to be cut, or other taxes / charges raised, to pay this extra amount.

Whatever your view of the Olympics and their value, the key point here is that burdening London taxpayers and, worse, the National Lottery with these extra costs is not necessary.

The government could easily cover all these extra costs without depriving London's public services or good causes of money if it wasn't going to waste £36bn (net) between now and 2012 by handing it to the wasteful, audit-failing EU.

Social care hit by NHS deficits

Social care for vulnerable people is being squeezed as a result of NHS deficits, according to the Local Government Association (LGA) - reports the BBC.

The LGA says costs are being shunted to social services departments as the NHS in England aims to balance its books.

A survey of 95 councils which run social services found two thirds say NHS debts are affecting them.

The Department of Health said the NHS and local authorities had to work together for patients' benefit.

Forty per cent of the councils surveyed by the LGA said the knock on effect of the financial pressure in the NHS was worse than in previous years.

When the organisations were asked what the NHS had done in their area to affect them, half said beds had been closed, and a quarter said there had been a reduction in district nurse numbers.

Another 14% said there were increased waiting times for NHS services, such as admission to hospital while 13% said community hospitals had been closed.

In addition, more than a third of the councils in the LGA survey say they are having to take responsibility for more cases normally dealt with by the NHS.

The continuing care of elderly patients is the main area where responsibilities overlap. Almost a quarter (24%) say the local NHS is failing to fund agreed or joint services.

This might involve cuts to nursing services, meaning home helps have to take on tasks such as changing wound dressings or checking insulin levels.

Funding disputes have increased, the councils reported.

The LGA says there is deep concern on the ground about the trend towards cost-shunting and its impact on already stretched council social care services.

Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, chairman of the LGA, said councils did not want to start a war of words with the NHS.

But he added: "There are grave financial pressures on both councils and the NHS that are starting to impact on the quality of service."

NHS workforce 'falls by 11,000'

The BBC is reporting today that the number of people working in the NHS fell by 11,000 in just the last quarter of 2006, according to Office for National Statistics figures.

Health unions said the loss across the UK would "inevitably have a negative impact" and nurses' leaders also warned that workforce cuts would damage patient care.

Dr Peter Carter, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), said "These alarming figures confirm what the RCN has long been warning - that deficits are leading to serious cuts in the NHS workforce."

James Johnson, head of the British Medical Association said NHS trusts were under pressure to balance their books, resulting in posts being cut, adding "This is devastating for the staff who are made redundant and demoralising for those who are left to cover the work."

In response, a Department of Health spokesman employed the classic tactic of trying to drown the staff cuts figures in larger numbers, pointing out that 1.36 million people work for the NHS.

Admitting the cuts are happening, he said "Where workforce reductions are taking place, trusts are managing through natural wastage, vacancy freezes and redeploying staff in different ways."

But staff leaving and not being replaced, while of course not as savage as sackings, still has the potential to impact on patient care.

If the government hasn't the money to help NHS trusts solve this problem, then they have an urgent responsibility to act to stop the obvious waste of public money elsewhere.

For example, their sending of billions of pounds every year to an organisation that hasn't been able to prove how the tens of billions we've handed over during the past twelve years has been spent.

Yet the government not only keeps the cash flowing to the EU, but has promised to pay 60% more.

Can MPs in all conscience support this, while hospitals clearly suffer? The vote in Parliament on the EU budget deal will tell.

Kingston: Demonstrations over NHS cuts

A weekend of rallies against NHS funding cuts kicked off on Friday with a lively staff demonstration at Kingston Hospital - reports the Kingston Guardian.

The protest just after midday was organised by Unison and pressure group London Health Emergency (LHE) as a "shot across the bows" before more potential cuts at the hospital this financial year.

Kingston Primary Care Trust (PCT) which pays for patients' treatment, is trying to recover £22million of debt from April onwards.

Nora Pearce, Unison representative at Kingston Hospital, said: "Staff who've given their working lives to the NHS now wonder what the future holds.

"We've been reorganised over and over again and now every year starts with the threat of more cuts and privatisation."

Geoff Martin from LHE said: "It was a lively protest, quite angry, and I think it will really help our cause in the coming months. We had a lot of support from drivers on Galsworthy Road tooting their horns."

Public feeling on NHS cuts was also shown at a rally outside St Helier Hospital in Sutton on Saturday, as hundreds turned out to protest against Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust having to slash £24million from its budget in 18 months.

'Screen all for MRSA' experts say

Researchers at Nottingham University have recommended that all patients coming in to hospitals for operations should be tested for the MRSA superbug, according to the BBC.

Experts say that this could cut MRSA rates to the Scandinavian levels of 2% within six years, compared to the UK's current rate of 44%.

They have also developed a test which would identify MRSA in all its forms within hours. The test currently used by NHS trusts to check if someone has basic MRSA takes up to three days.

The Department of Health has itself acknowledged that there should be "universal screening" of patients going into hospital, also saying "Tackling health care acquired infections is a top priority for the government and the health service."

So why isn't this happening? The reason is that universal screening for MRSA means higher costs, and the choice has been left to individual NHS trusts to "determine the most appropriate initial approach to screening for their patient population."

Though with many NHS trusts struggling to recover debts and having to make cuts to services, taking on extra costs - no matter how much the outcome may help patients - is a remote possibility.

Of course, we have a helpful suggestion for where vast amounts of wasted money could be diverted from, to pay for universal MRSA testing and saving unnecessary loss of life.

Bizarrely some MPs seem to think that the audit-failing EU deserves those billions more.

Warrington - more than 100 hospital jobs cut

More than 100 jobs are to go at Warrington Hospital as part of a cost cutting initiative, reports the BBC. The plan also includes the loss of 90 beds between April and June this year.

North Cheshire Hospitals Trust claims the new scheme focuses on improving efficiency, meaning fewer beds and theatre sessions will be needed. Presumably they have no waiting lists at all then.

Jason Hunter, of Unison, said: "We will be challenging the decision as to how the management can justify the loss of so many posts."

Bosses have said that they will try to avoid redundancies by moving staff to fill vacant posts that have been held open.

The trust has already cut more than 100 beds by transferring acute medical wards from Halton to Warrington - but bosses maintain services have improved as a result.

Two theatres will also close at Warrington - but 15 staff affected will be redeployed to other area.

Catherine Beardshaw, Chief Executive of North Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "I have
been very open about the financial challenge the trust faces.

"We need to save £18.4m by March next year and we are making good progress towards this."

The trust estimates the cuts will save a further £3m towards the target.

Mr Hunter said: "Cutting so many jobs would place remaining staff under too much pressure.

"My understanding of the trust's reason for cuts was that they felt too many people were staying in hospital for too long but I'm not sure whether the loss of 90 beds and 104 jobs is a justifiable answer to that problem."

Of course, the £18.4 million the trust needs to prevent cuts like these is a mere 27 hours worth of the money that the government has agreed to hand the EU, as part of the new EU budget deal.

Tony Blair agreed to a 60% increase in payments to the EU despite still no idea of how the EU has spent the "majority" of the money that's been handed over in the last twelve years.

How can Warrrington MPs Helen Southworth (Warrington South) & Helen Jones (Warrington North) justify their intention to approve this terrible EU deal - a waste of vast amounts of public money that's clearly costing their local hospital dear?

Ms Southworth in particular, in holding onto her seat by a wafer thin 3,515 votes, should seriously consider the implications for her job come the next election of being seen by voters sending still billions more pounds a year to the EU, when a tiny fraction of that money could help stop cuts at essential health services in Warrington.

Funding cuts march draws crowd

Hundreds of people took to the streets of Oxford to protest against NHS cuts and its funding crisis - reports the Oxford Times.

About 400 health workers, union members, pensioners and members of the public joined forces on Saturday in a bid to send a clear message to the Government.

Demonstrators, many of whom had not been on a protest march before, had been angered by the growing number of NHS redundancies across the county's hospitals.

Oxfordshire's Primary Care Trust and hospital trusts still face multi-million pound debts and a report last week revealed that up to 64% of community hospital beds could be under threat.

Hundreds of NHS staff march against job cuts

Hundreds of health workers took to the streets to protest at cuts to NHS jobs and services, reports the Manchester Evening News.

Campaigners - protesting against the government for slashing budgets - marched through Manchester and staged a rally in Albert Square.

It was part of a national day of action by the NHS Together alliance of unions and other organisations.

Karen Reissman, chair of the Manchester branch of Unison for community and mental health services, warned the crowd of about 400 that the NHS was under threat.

She said: "In a few years time we won't have a National Health Service to defend, unless we act now.

"The scale on which the NHS is being attacked is unprecedented. It isn't as if Britain isn't a rich country and can't afford a decent NHS. It most certainly can."

The action was also in support of 250 mental health workers who have been on strike over cuts in jobs and services, downgrading of jobs and threats of privatisation.

Lillian Elliot, a union rep in the national blood service, said it was facing the threat of nine blood processing and testing centres being reduced to just three.

She said: "If this comes to pass, we will see vital blood supplies spending most of their time on a motorway."

Angela Murphy, a senior radiographer at Hope Hospital in Salford, said staff face having to work two-and-a-half hours a week more while pay increases are less than inflation. She said: "We are also facing the possibility of redundancies and there are lot of very angry people within the profession."

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber sent a good luck message to the organisers saying: "I know that NHS staff in Manchester take real pride in the improvements in health care delivered in recent years."

An NHS Together banner was raised at the peak of England's third highest mountain - Skiddaw in the Lake District - to support the day of action.

NHS staff protest over job cuts

Health workers have been holding marches and rallies to protest about cuts to NHS jobs and services, and below-inflation pay increases - according to the BBC.

Demonstrations took place in a number of towns and cities, including London, Manchester, Preston, Bristol, Birmingham, Sheffield and Belfast.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber - who spoke in Sheffield - said there was "real concern" about NHS policies. "Obviously there are immediate pressures with cuts and jobs disappearing, wards closing in too many trusts," he said.

"People not able to find jobs when they've completed their training - nurses, physiotherapists. So all of those kinds of problems."

The events were co-ordinated by NHS Together, an alliance of unions and NHS staff organisations.

Dr Peter Carter, of the Royal College of Nursing, said nurses were "angry and upset" over a number of issues.

He told BBC News 24: "Over the last year or so nurses have seen jobs frozen, redundancies, services closed, wards closed, student nurses not being able to get jobs on finishing their training, which is a pretty depressing state of affairs.

"And then you've had on Thursday the announcement by the government that they were not going to fully implement the recommendations of the pay review body that nurses should get 2.5%.

"And so it's a combination of both of these things have led to an extremely frustrated nursing workforce."

Funding row over sight loss drug

Elderly patients may be losing their sight because some health trusts are refusing to fund a specific drug, a BBC report has revealed.

Primary care trusts are refusing to let consultants prescribe a drug that can save people's vision.

Trials have shown the licensed drug Lucentis is effective in treating "wet" age-related macular degeneration (AMD) - a condition affecting the ability to see fine detail and colour.

AMD develops quickly and can cause major sight loss in a matter of weeks. But it can respond to treatment in the early stages.

Some trusts are still waiting for clinical guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) before funding it, but it is not due until September. Yet the government had said it is unacceptable for trusts to refuse treatment simply because the guidance does not yet exist.

In Reading, Bournemouth, Poole and Oxford the drug's use is not funded at all, while in Southampton, Portsmouth and Salisbury trusts say funding is only considered on a case-by-case basis.

A report published by the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) claims that 90% of all primary care trusts are refusing to pay for the drug. Steve Winyard, from the RNIB, said:

"We're hearing from more and more people who have been told that they can benefit from the treatment but that their hospital is refusing to help them.

"So they are faced with that awful choice of having to raise cash, otherwise they will go blind."

Professor Andrew Lotery, a lead ophthalmologist based at Southampton General Hospital, said he was angry that some patients were being forced to pay for the treatment.

He said: "The National Health Service, as I understand it, should be free at the point of access and there shouldn't be a postcode lottery. So I'm very keen for these drugs to become available on the NHS as soon as possible."