I joined a group of people who wanted to see changes in our healthcare system after becoming infected by MRSA during surgery in February 2004.  My first input was in July 2004 when I got involved with the MRSA Discussion Forum as a moderator whilst Rob Prince was in hospital.  It was through the forum that I met the other founder members of MRSA Action UK, who had either been bereaved by or had survived MRSA, we wanted the Government to take action to make our hospitals safe.

Since my involvement I have negotiated meetings and discussions with senior politicians including The Parliamentary Health Select Committee, MPs Michael Howard and Andrew Lansley, and Chair of the Public Accounts Committee Edward Leigh MP.  This meeting is significant in that it brought pressure to update the position on the findings of the National Audit Office Report on Hospital Acquired Infections in 2000, which was used in the argument to develop the Hygiene Code, an integral part of the Health Act 2006.

My own MP Geoff Hoon, who was Leader of the House of Commons at that time, met with me to discuss the petition calling for a full parliamentary debate on MRSA.  Mr Hoon gave me a flat NO but that has not deterred me in any way at all in fact it made me even more determined to achieve it.  Since then we have taken an Early Day Motion to Parliament asking for a trial of the Netherlands Search and Destroy Policy to be conducted in a hospital trust – this again fell.  So we carry on.

I am working closely with Trent Strategic Health Authority and the Health Select Committee within the Overview and Scrutiny Committee the latter have invited me to be part of their MRSA study group.  Work has involved initiating a pilot study involving two surgical wards.  This will be happening in the not too distant future, with one ward carrying on with no changes and the other instigating aseptic practices to include the use of face-masks when dealing with any broken skin areas.

I have a background in nursing and mental health, and have been a Trustee of the Charity Mind.  I fear having surgery to put things right here in the UK, the experience of having this terrible infection has its psychological impact as well and the physical disabilities and legacy it leaves in its wake.

I am determined to fight for safer standards in our hospitals with my friends and colleagues from MRSA Action UK.  We are one big family and we all have the same thing in common, we do not want to see others go through what we have been through.

I like Tom am a survivor, you could say we are the lucky ones.  We are in a position to assist the Department of Health and the Healthcare Commission learn from our experience.  It is an ambition to be involved in the regulation of our healthcare system, and to work with the regulators to ensure hospitals are adhering to the new legislation under the Hygiene Code, with the ultimate aim of making our hospitals as safe as those in Northern Europe.