London hospitals are struggling to cope with deadly superbugs, despite a major hygiene drive in the NHS - reports the Evening Standard.
Figures released today by the Health Protection Agency show rising rates of the potentially fatal stomach bug Clostridium Difficile.
Almost 1,680 people contracted the bug in the first three months of this year - a rise of 14% on the previous three months.
Additionally, around 1,200 people contracted MRSA - 25% more than the target level.
The figures come only days after chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson attacked hospitals for an "unacceptable level of hygiene".
Barnet and Chase Farm NHS Hospitals Trust was issued with an improvement notice last month for serious breaches of the rules, including basic measures such as not having alcohol hand-rubs.
The highest numbers of C.Difficile cases were at Barnet and Chase Farm hospitals (Theresa Villiers MP and Joan Ryan MP), with 188 in the three months from January to March.
There were 132 cases at Whipps Cross (Harry Cohen MP), 123 cases at St George's Healthcare NHS Trust (Sadiq Kahn MP & Martin Linton MP) and 118 at Kingston Hospital (Ed Davey MP).
Other hospitals where cases of MRSA are on the increase include Newham University Hospital (Lyn Brown MP), Hillingdon Hospital (John Randall MP), and West Middlesex University Hospital (Ann Keen MP).
Many other London hospitals, while reducing the number of cases over previous years, still suffer a problem. And MPs would surely agree that even one superbug case is one too many.
So are these MPs going to vote to waste billions of pounds extra on the audit-failing EU - completely without justification - while their constituency hospital needs further investment to improve hygiene?
People are dying due to this hygiene problem. Can't the EU manage to get by on the £3.5bn a year (net) we already hand over every year? That's surely more than our fair share.
Wednesday, 25 July 2007
Flooding compensation
Responding to questions in the House of Commons today, Gordon Brown said all councils affected by the floods would receive 100% compensation, according to a BBC report.
He said £46m had been made available by the government in the immediate future and annual spending on flood protection would rise from £600m to £800m by 2010/11.
But is this enough? Certainly these amounts are tiny compared to the extra £2.5bn a year Gordon Brown plans to lavish on the audit-failing EU, which will take our total net EU payments to £6bn a year.
The £46m is less than 3 days worth of what we'll be paying the EU, and the extra £200m the government intends to spend on flood protection over coming years represents a little over a week's worth of what our new EU payments would be, if MPs vote to approve the EU budget deal.
What does this say about how the government prioritises preventing the terrible personal devastation we have seen over recent weeks from happening again, relative to funding the wasteful and fraud-ridden EU?
Let's not forget, auditors haven't even been able to tell us where the "majority" of the EU's spending goes for twelve years running - so no-one knows where much of the money given to the EU is in fact going.
Surely that money would be better spent on flood prevention, than wasted on the EU? Those MPs who agree will vote against the EU budget deal.
He said £46m had been made available by the government in the immediate future and annual spending on flood protection would rise from £600m to £800m by 2010/11.
But is this enough? Certainly these amounts are tiny compared to the extra £2.5bn a year Gordon Brown plans to lavish on the audit-failing EU, which will take our total net EU payments to £6bn a year.
The £46m is less than 3 days worth of what we'll be paying the EU, and the extra £200m the government intends to spend on flood protection over coming years represents a little over a week's worth of what our new EU payments would be, if MPs vote to approve the EU budget deal.
What does this say about how the government prioritises preventing the terrible personal devastation we have seen over recent weeks from happening again, relative to funding the wasteful and fraud-ridden EU?
Let's not forget, auditors haven't even been able to tell us where the "majority" of the EU's spending goes for twelve years running - so no-one knows where much of the money given to the EU is in fact going.
Surely that money would be better spent on flood prevention, than wasted on the EU? Those MPs who agree will vote against the EU budget deal.
Tuesday, 24 July 2007
Hospital bugs 'remain a problem'
The number of cases of the superbug MRSA is falling in England, but the potentially more dangerous Clostridium difficile is thriving, according to the BBC.
A review by the Health Protection Agency showed hospital MRSA cases had fallen by 10% in the first three months of 2007 compared with a year ago.
But rates for C. difficile, which mainly strikes the elderly, rose by 2%.
Some NHS trusts complained that targets - both clinical and financial - were hindering the fight against infection.
In a separate survey carried out by the Healthcare Commission - an NHS watchdog - some 45% of the 155 trusts said time targets for treating patients in A&E were getting in the way of infection control measures.
Pressure to move patients to any available bed rather than the most appropriate bed or an isolation ward was one reason cited for the difficulties.
A further 36% of trusts said they were having problems combining investment in cleaning with financial targets, while 88% said their limited IT infrastructure "was restricting their ability to draw important lessons from incidents of infection".
The survey was carried out in May 2006, and the watchdog noted that a number of practices - particularly regarding individual staff objectives for bringing down infection - had changed.
There were 15,592 reported cases of C. difficile in patients aged 65 and over in
England in the first quarter of 2007. This represents a 2% rise when compared with the same period last year, but is 22% higher than the previous quarter.
C. difficile usually affects the elderly, and can prove fatal if antibiotic treatment fails to kill all the spores in the gut, and they take hold again before the patient's own gut bacteria have had chance to mount a resistance.
It is also very difficult to eradicate from the ward environment, which means it is easy for other patients to become infected.
Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said the government had "spectacularly failed" to halt C. difficile.
Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley called the figures "the tip of the iceberg, because they do not include the number of infections in people aged under 65".
A review by the Health Protection Agency showed hospital MRSA cases had fallen by 10% in the first three months of 2007 compared with a year ago.
But rates for C. difficile, which mainly strikes the elderly, rose by 2%.
Some NHS trusts complained that targets - both clinical and financial - were hindering the fight against infection.
In a separate survey carried out by the Healthcare Commission - an NHS watchdog - some 45% of the 155 trusts said time targets for treating patients in A&E were getting in the way of infection control measures.
Pressure to move patients to any available bed rather than the most appropriate bed or an isolation ward was one reason cited for the difficulties.
A further 36% of trusts said they were having problems combining investment in cleaning with financial targets, while 88% said their limited IT infrastructure "was restricting their ability to draw important lessons from incidents of infection".
The survey was carried out in May 2006, and the watchdog noted that a number of practices - particularly regarding individual staff objectives for bringing down infection - had changed.
There were 15,592 reported cases of C. difficile in patients aged 65 and over in
England in the first quarter of 2007. This represents a 2% rise when compared with the same period last year, but is 22% higher than the previous quarter.
C. difficile usually affects the elderly, and can prove fatal if antibiotic treatment fails to kill all the spores in the gut, and they take hold again before the patient's own gut bacteria have had chance to mount a resistance.
It is also very difficult to eradicate from the ward environment, which means it is easy for other patients to become infected.
Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said the government had "spectacularly failed" to halt C. difficile.
Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley called the figures "the tip of the iceberg, because they do not include the number of infections in people aged under 65".
Monday, 23 July 2007
Hospices 'face funding struggle'
Hospices are struggling with debts as funding promised by the government has failed to materialise, reports the BBC.
More than one in four hospices is now in deficit, a study of 186 of the UK's 194 charitable hospices showed.
It comes after the government promised in its 2005 manifesto that funding for palliative care would be doubled.
But the Help the Hospices charity said charity hospice money had remained largely static. The government said funding was now being looked at.
Two thirds of the hospices in England are run by the voluntary sector, providing valuable palliative and day care support to the NHS.
The hospice movement is a unique service which has led the way in palliative care
Karen Jennings, of Unison
But the Help the Hospices study found the amount of government money hospices received as a proportion of their spending fell for the last three years.
In England, government funding now stands at 32% of the £450m expenditure on charitable hospices, having fallen from 34% in 2004 and 33% in 2005.
The rest of the funding has to come from charitable donations.
The figures also revealed the amount hospices receive varied hugely - from nothing to 62% of their spend.
Help the Hospices chief executive David Praill said: "We are asking the government to deliver Labour's election manifesto commitment to doubling the amount given for palliative care as a matter of urgency.
"Charitable hospices provide the majority of in-patient palliative care services as well as a range of day care, hospice at home, bereavement support services and training for doctors and nurses.
"We are not asking for 100% funding, but we do need the government to cover the cost of services that the NHS would otherwise have to provide.
"The donations we get from charity fundraising activities in local communities are already badly needed and cannot be stretched to cover core NHS responsibilities indefinitely as well.
"The situation will only worsen with an ageing population and more and more of us living longer with terminal illness - this issue has to be addressed now."
Unison head of health Karen Jennings said: "The hospice movement is a unique service which has led the way in palliative care.
"They receive fantastic support from many relatives who raise funds for the service, often for years after the death of a family member.
"But they cannot survive on fundraising alone."
More than one in four hospices is now in deficit, a study of 186 of the UK's 194 charitable hospices showed.
It comes after the government promised in its 2005 manifesto that funding for palliative care would be doubled.
But the Help the Hospices charity said charity hospice money had remained largely static. The government said funding was now being looked at.
Two thirds of the hospices in England are run by the voluntary sector, providing valuable palliative and day care support to the NHS.
The hospice movement is a unique service which has led the way in palliative care
Karen Jennings, of Unison
But the Help the Hospices study found the amount of government money hospices received as a proportion of their spending fell for the last three years.
In England, government funding now stands at 32% of the £450m expenditure on charitable hospices, having fallen from 34% in 2004 and 33% in 2005.
The rest of the funding has to come from charitable donations.
The figures also revealed the amount hospices receive varied hugely - from nothing to 62% of their spend.
Help the Hospices chief executive David Praill said: "We are asking the government to deliver Labour's election manifesto commitment to doubling the amount given for palliative care as a matter of urgency.
"Charitable hospices provide the majority of in-patient palliative care services as well as a range of day care, hospice at home, bereavement support services and training for doctors and nurses.
"We are not asking for 100% funding, but we do need the government to cover the cost of services that the NHS would otherwise have to provide.
"The donations we get from charity fundraising activities in local communities are already badly needed and cannot be stretched to cover core NHS responsibilities indefinitely as well.
"The situation will only worsen with an ageing population and more and more of us living longer with terminal illness - this issue has to be addressed now."
Unison head of health Karen Jennings said: "The hospice movement is a unique service which has led the way in palliative care.
"They receive fantastic support from many relatives who raise funds for the service, often for years after the death of a family member.
"But they cannot survive on fundraising alone."
Sunday, 22 July 2007
Watford: A&E nursing jobs face axe
A nurse from Watford General Hospital has slammed plans to slash the number of staff in accident and emergency (A&E).
The nurse, who currently works in the department, claims hospital bosses have told staff that West Herts Hospitals NHS Trust will halve the number of nurses in A&E.
In a letter sent to the Watford Observer, the nurse has revealed staff in A&E are already over-worked and that when emergency services at Hemel Hempstead close, the Vicarage Road hospital will be dangerously under-staffed.
The nurse said: "I believe they are about to put patient care in A&E at a big risk.
"Anyone who has been in the department recently will know all the nursing staff are constantly running around, caring for very sick patients, giving treatments or assisting in the doctors' duties.
"To reduce the staff by this number will increase the time to be seen and to be treated and also compromise the care given to patients. Many members of staff, nurses, doctors and other healthcare workers have already said that they think patients will die because of these cut backs."
Currently every shift at Watford A&E is staffed by ten nurses during the day, and eight at night.
NHS bosses are thought to be looking to reduce this to five nurses during the day and four at night and relocate 22 nurses to other areas of the trust.
However, under a major reorganisation of health care in Hertfordshire, A&E services at Hemel Hempstead Hospital are due to be transferred to Watford, meaning tens of thousands more people will soon rely on the service.
The nurse, who has asked to remain anonymous, said staff are concerned they will not receive sufficient training if they are transferred to a new role.
A trust spokesman said a final decision on the number of nurses employed in Watford A&E has not yet been made, but did confirm that hundreds of agency staff would be lost.
The cuts are part of huge cost cutting measures, which will see the equivalent of 135 full-time nurses and midwives axed across the trust.
The move aims to save the cash trust millions of pounds.
The spokesman said nurses from A&E will not be made redundant, but will be sent to other areas of the trust.
He added that most of the terminated staff members will be agency workers.
Chief executive of the trust, David Law, said: "Our primary aim is to ensure that patient care is not compromised, while bringing the trust back into financial balance and ensuring high-quality services to people living in west Hertfordshire, in the long-term."
The nurse, who currently works in the department, claims hospital bosses have told staff that West Herts Hospitals NHS Trust will halve the number of nurses in A&E.
In a letter sent to the Watford Observer, the nurse has revealed staff in A&E are already over-worked and that when emergency services at Hemel Hempstead close, the Vicarage Road hospital will be dangerously under-staffed.
The nurse said: "I believe they are about to put patient care in A&E at a big risk.
"Anyone who has been in the department recently will know all the nursing staff are constantly running around, caring for very sick patients, giving treatments or assisting in the doctors' duties.
"To reduce the staff by this number will increase the time to be seen and to be treated and also compromise the care given to patients. Many members of staff, nurses, doctors and other healthcare workers have already said that they think patients will die because of these cut backs."
Currently every shift at Watford A&E is staffed by ten nurses during the day, and eight at night.
NHS bosses are thought to be looking to reduce this to five nurses during the day and four at night and relocate 22 nurses to other areas of the trust.
However, under a major reorganisation of health care in Hertfordshire, A&E services at Hemel Hempstead Hospital are due to be transferred to Watford, meaning tens of thousands more people will soon rely on the service.
The nurse, who has asked to remain anonymous, said staff are concerned they will not receive sufficient training if they are transferred to a new role.
A trust spokesman said a final decision on the number of nurses employed in Watford A&E has not yet been made, but did confirm that hundreds of agency staff would be lost.
The cuts are part of huge cost cutting measures, which will see the equivalent of 135 full-time nurses and midwives axed across the trust.
The move aims to save the cash trust millions of pounds.
The spokesman said nurses from A&E will not be made redundant, but will be sent to other areas of the trust.
He added that most of the terminated staff members will be agency workers.
Chief executive of the trust, David Law, said: "Our primary aim is to ensure that patient care is not compromised, while bringing the trust back into financial balance and ensuring high-quality services to people living in west Hertfordshire, in the long-term."
Wednesday, 18 July 2007
Bridlington & Scarborough: NHS trust announces 600 job cuts
The Scarborough and North East Yorkshire NHS Trust has announced that it is to axe 600 jobs, comprising a third of its workforce, in a bid to save £10m and balance its books - the BBC reports today.
The cuts are the latest in a long series of similar actions by NHS trusts across the country, being forced when cost over-runs are not being met with extra funds from central government.
The government is finding the cash, however, to gift an extra £2.5bn a year (net) to the wasteful European Union (which already receives £3.5bn a year on average). Yet The EU hasn't been able to have the majority of its accounts approved by auditors for twelve years in a row.
Latest figures from the NHS Information Centre show that 17,000 posts have been closed in the last 12 months alone.
The North Yorkshire trust runs Scarbrough General and Bridlington District hospitals.
Unison regional officer Ray Gray has condemned the huge cuts in staff levels as a "disaster" for health services in the area.
"Job losses on this scale are completely unsustainable. It would devastate the NHS in this part of Yorkshire and have a profoundly damaging effect on the local economy", he said.
"How the trust has ended up in this dire situation is a matter of grave concern and we are seeking urgent talks with the Secretary of State for Health to find a way of saving the jobs and the health service in the Scarborough district."
The cuts are the latest in a long series of similar actions by NHS trusts across the country, being forced when cost over-runs are not being met with extra funds from central government.
The government is finding the cash, however, to gift an extra £2.5bn a year (net) to the wasteful European Union (which already receives £3.5bn a year on average). Yet The EU hasn't been able to have the majority of its accounts approved by auditors for twelve years in a row.
Latest figures from the NHS Information Centre show that 17,000 posts have been closed in the last 12 months alone.
The North Yorkshire trust runs Scarbrough General and Bridlington District hospitals.
Unison regional officer Ray Gray has condemned the huge cuts in staff levels as a "disaster" for health services in the area.
"Job losses on this scale are completely unsustainable. It would devastate the NHS in this part of Yorkshire and have a profoundly damaging effect on the local economy", he said.
"How the trust has ended up in this dire situation is a matter of grave concern and we are seeking urgent talks with the Secretary of State for Health to find a way of saving the jobs and the health service in the Scarborough district."
Labels:
bridlington,
cuts,
hospitals,
scarborough
Sunday, 15 July 2007
Hospital turns patients away one day in two
The region's biggest hospital is declaring an overcrowding red alert and closing its doors to non-emergency patients one day in every two on average - reports The Sentinel.
The University Hospital of North Staffordshire has declared the highest state of alert, meaning it is under extreme pressure and immediate action is required, on 329 days out of 802 since April 1, 2005.
Until an alert is cleared, management cancel pre-booked operations and send patients home, ask staff to work extra hours or come in on their days off, pay for beds in the private nursing sector to free up space, and call neighbouring hospitals for help.
And the problem appears to be getting worse. While red alerts happened on one in three days last year, they rose to 38 days out of 72 between April and June 11 this year.
The figures, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, reveal that a red alert was declared at the Hartshill hospital on 18 consecutive days in February.
Ian Syme, co-ordinator of North Staffordshire Healthwatch, said hospitals should be running at 80 to 85 per cent capacity so there was slack in case of emergencies.
He said: "The University Hospital hasn't got the capacity to deal with the illness it is encountering.
"There has been a significant cut in staff and in the number of beds.
"But there hasn't been a significant increase in community services and they won't be up to scratch for five to 10 years. I don't know any other profession where staff are under such severe pressure so much of the time.
"The hospital trust has pledged to slash 1,000 jobs, 800 of which have already been cut. It has also axed 145 of its 1,300 beds in the past year to tackle a £15 million debt.
The University Hospital of North Staffordshire has declared the highest state of alert, meaning it is under extreme pressure and immediate action is required, on 329 days out of 802 since April 1, 2005.
Until an alert is cleared, management cancel pre-booked operations and send patients home, ask staff to work extra hours or come in on their days off, pay for beds in the private nursing sector to free up space, and call neighbouring hospitals for help.
And the problem appears to be getting worse. While red alerts happened on one in three days last year, they rose to 38 days out of 72 between April and June 11 this year.
The figures, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, reveal that a red alert was declared at the Hartshill hospital on 18 consecutive days in February.
Ian Syme, co-ordinator of North Staffordshire Healthwatch, said hospitals should be running at 80 to 85 per cent capacity so there was slack in case of emergencies.
He said: "The University Hospital hasn't got the capacity to deal with the illness it is encountering.
"There has been a significant cut in staff and in the number of beds.
"But there hasn't been a significant increase in community services and they won't be up to scratch for five to 10 years. I don't know any other profession where staff are under such severe pressure so much of the time.
"The hospital trust has pledged to slash 1,000 jobs, 800 of which have already been cut. It has also axed 145 of its 1,300 beds in the past year to tackle a £15 million debt.
Labels:
NHS cuts,
staffordshire,
stoke-on-trent
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