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Cameras to monitor hospital staff
Employees concerned as NHS trusts opt to trial US surveillance technology in a bid to cut superbug infections
Denis Campbell, health correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 8 May 2012 17.00 BST
The NHS is set to start using cameras in hospital wards to monitor staff behaviour in a bid to reduce hospital-acquired infections, drive up the quality of care and improve patient safety.
Two hospital trusts have agreed to introduce the technology, which has triggered concern among staff about being constantly watched as they work, and raised issues about how to protect patients' confidentiality.
The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen university hospitals NHS trust will become the first NHS organisation to install cameras in a move that could change healthcare workers' relationships with patients and with their employers.
The trust has struck a deal with US technology firm Arrowsight, and ADT Security Services, to put 30 cameras into the intensive care unit, kidney dialysis department and an operating theatre of the city's Royal Liverpool university hospital.
The trust's management admits that the move, expected to be implemented in the autumn, has prompted "apprehension and suspicion" among affected staff. But it is expecting the cameras to lead to better care for some more vulnerable patients, fewer cases of MRSA and Clostridium difficile (C difficile), and a reduced risk of surgical staff making a blunder when performing a procedure. Managers believe that patients and their families will welcome the presence of a watchful eye and staff will be motivated to always follow the best clinical procedures.
The trust will undertake a three-month free-of-charge pilot before deciding whether to make this surveillance of working practices permanent. Its first-year cost would be close on £200,000 for the cameras and monitoring services if it leased the 30 cameras. If it did not put them in the operating theatre the first year cost would fall to around £37,000.
The scheme could turn out to be a trailblazer for the NHS. Central Manchester university hospitals NHS foundation trust is also planning to test the technology in a large ward at Manchester Royal infirmary. Other trusts have had discussions with Arrowsight and ADT, and a third pilot, in London, is expected to be confirmed soon.
Cameras in the four-bed post-operative care unit of Royal Liverpool hospital's intensive care unit will check if staff are washing their hands before they dress wounds, give medication, and insert or remove intravenous lines from patients. Diane Wake, the trust's chief operating officer and executive nurse, says: "The cameras will also monitor how often staff move patients in bed who are usually immobile and may sometimes be on a ventilator, and whether they used the right techniques. That's to reduce the risk of the patient getting either pressure ulcers or an infection, especially ventilator-acquired pneumonia."
Signs will alert patients and their families to the cameras' presence, and no one's care will be monitored without their written consent. "This will give patients and visitors extra reassurance that we really take care and safety very seriously," says Wake.
"We're also going to use this technology in our renal dialysis unit to monitor whether staff have washed their hands and used the correct procedures for attaching the dialysis machine to the patient, to avoid giving the patient a bloodstream infection. The nurse should clean the patient's skin before inserting the needle," she adds.
While the trust has cut its rates of MRSA by 90% and C difficile by 89% over the last three years, it hopes that the cameras will bring further improvements.
Cameras will also be placed in an operating theatre to ensure the surgical team goes through the standard checklist before it starts - a process the World Health Organisation recommends is undertaken before every operation.
Sue Redfern, the trust's deputy director of nursing, says: "This technology will be 24/7. It's a way of observing clinical practice. It will tell us if staff are following every step of patient care in a 'care bundle' and give us additional intelligence about where we need to make improvements in care delivery, for example if handwashing compliance is 100% one day but 80% the next.
"We know that if you follow every step in the 'care bundle' you will get the best outcome for the patient and enhance the patient's safety and the patient will come to no harm. But if you start to cut corners or miss a step that's in the care bundle, evidence shows that patients are likely to come to harm."
Arrowsight produces the technology, which is known as "remote video auditing". It has been used for years in the US by the beef industry to monitor workers' hygiene practices, by fast-food restaurants to move staff to where they are most needed during busy times, and for security purposes.
In the healthcare setting, cameras transmit pictures of activity around sinks, hand gel dispensers and patients' beds to Arrowsight call centres overseas, which then send regular updates to units or wards about how many staff have washed their hands, for example.
At North Shore university hospital in New York State, where cameras have been operating since 2008, monitors by the doors to its intensive care unit observe when someone goes in or out. They then have 10 seconds to wash their hands. LED screens on the wall flash up messages such as: "Sanitise hands upon entry/exit of rooms!" and "Target rate = 95%". "Great shift" is posted to the electronic boards if the ward has greater than a 90% hand hygiene rate. Managers receive email updates too.
After initial apprehension about being under such surveillance, staff at the two hospitals in the US that use the cameras have become motivated by their presence and informal competition has emerged between shifts and wards, says Arrowsight's chief executive, Adam Aronson.
The Liverpool hospital aims to take a similar approach. "We're not going to manage this in a punitive way," says Wake. "It'll concentrate on positive reinforcement of good behaviour. We want staff to just forget about the cameras and do what they would normally do."
Staff in the US who were observed regularly not doing the right thing have had one-on-one coaching sessions.
A recent study of remote video auditing, in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, concluded that combined with real-time feedback of healthcare worker hand hygiene rates [it] produced a "significant and sustained improvement in hand hygiene compliance, and has the potential to improve the quality of patient care".
It could also ensure compliance with proper techniques in resuscitation, rapid responses, placing central line catheters and nursing care, added the study.
Other research, in the British Medical Journal last week, said the NHS-wide Clean Your Hands campaign had helped to improve staff's use of soap and hand gel.
Healthcare associated infections are falling, but some 14,000 patients still contract MRSA or C difficile in England and Wales every year, according to the Health Protection Agency, and they cost the NHS an estimated £1bn.
Derek Butler, chair of patient safety group MRSA Action UK, says inconsistent levels of handwashing by NHS staff makes cameras a must. "We can no longer afford to use 19th-century methods against resistant bacteria. Bacteria have evolved, and so should we in using modern methods to keep patients safe. We are aware there may be concerns regarding this system. But, in our opinion, the safety of patients should override those concerns."
The Royal College of Nursing tentatively welcomes the pilots. Peter Carter, its chief executive and general secretary says: "While there is no silver bullet for reducing infections in hospitals, we recognise the potential of the new technology to create safe patient environments. We would like to see a careful evaluation of how they work in practice to determine their suitability in hospitals. We look forward to seeing both the results of the pilot projects and the evaluation from staff and patients alike."
(c) 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/may/08/cameras-monitor-hospital-staff
MRSA charity work in memory of father
Andrea Jenkyns with her dad Clifford, who died after contracting MRSA. Andrea has now become a trustee of MRSA Action UK.
Published on Friday 13 April 2012 07:59
A BOSTON councillor whose father died from MRSA has turned her grief to action by getting involved in a charity supporting the cause.
Andrea Jenkyns, county councillor for Boston North West, said her life changed forever when her dear dad Clifford contracted the infection and died just four months later.
But now she has decided to use her sadness to try to help others after becoming a trustee and East Midlands representative for the charity MRSA Action in her dad's memory.
She told The Standard: "I'd not been exposed to it before, but when we found out my dad had caught it I tried to find some information.
"When he was ill we had time to talk about it. He said when he got better he wanted us to set up a charity together to inform people about MRSA, but there was one already."
Clifford, who was 73 when he died, went into hospital last July for an operation to insert a lung drain which would ease symptoms of the mesothilioma cancer he was suffering from. But he was never to recover from the operation, after he contracted the superbug and died four months later.
Andrea (pictured with her dad) said: "It was a huge shock for us all, but the standards in the hospital were just appalling." MRSA can be contracted though the blood, eyes, wounds and catheter sites, among others. She would not say which hospital her father was treated at, but confirmed it was not Pilgrim Hospital or any other Lincolnshire facility.
Andrea said she believed that one of the most important things she learned during her experience with her dad was how vital it is to raise awareness about MRSA to ensure that healthcare staff and hospital visitors do all they can to fight the infection. She added: "Awareness is the biggest thing, and we want to make it so all cases of MRSA are recorded. Patients deserve to know." MRSA Action was set up around eight years ago and is made up entirely of volunteers. Andrea, who is also a singer, said she was planning some fundraising activities to raise money and awareness for the cause.
Anyone who is concerned about MRSA, whether they are suffering, know somebody who is, or they are heading into hospital can contact her.
Email andrea.jenkyns@mrsaactionuk.net for more information.
MRSA Action UK Urge People to Spread The Word
Tuesday 10th April 2012
MRSA Action UK is urging people to help spread the word about a hospital infection which is becoming increasingly common.
Andrea Jenkyns, who lost her father to the infection last year is now the East Midlands Rep for the Charity and she told the Chesterfield Post how it not only killed her father, but devastated the family he left behind.
This is Andrea's story...
On the 15th November 2011, my life changed forever as a result of MRSA. My wonderful Dad, Clifford Jenkyns, passed away on that sad day. In July 2011, my Dad went into hospital for a routine procedure to insert a lung drain. This is where he caught MRSA.
The cleanliness standards of the hospital were questionable, and the things that we witnessed were unbelievable. My Dad bravely fought against this terrible infection for over four months. He went from being a vibrant, full of life, healthy person, who always helped other people, to being weak, frail and weighing less than seven stone. Then on that November night we lost him, he died in the arms of my wonderful Mum.
MRSA not only effects patients but also leaves a lasting scar on the hearts and lives of those who are left behind. This is the reason that I became a trustee of MRSA Action UK, I want to support those who have gone through what my family and I have gone through, and I want to do all I can to spread the word, and prevent it from happening to other people.
MRSA Action UK was founded by a group of people who all had life changing experiences or lost a loved one through contracting MRSA. We came together through our involvement in supporting each other and have broadened our membership by supporting others through our work with healthcare providers and the agencies that support the health economy. We have formed alliances with other organisations from around the UK to join in our campaign for safer standards in our hospitals and healthcare settings.
We are all volunteers and share a common purpose - to relieve the distress and suffering experienced by patients who contract healthcare associated infections. We aim to raise the awareness of the general public in all areas relating to healthcare associated infections.
MRSA Action UK works alongside other patient groups and charities, regulators, infection prevention and control staff and government agencies to help bring improvements and safer standards to the healthcare system.
I am pleased to announce that in addition to becoming a trustee of MRSA Action UK, I have also taken on the role as the regional representative for theEast Midlands.
If you require any help or support then please do not hesitate to contact me.
MRSA Action UK has a wealth of knowledge available to support you, including a guide for those who are going into hospital. If you are also interested in becoming a member or supporting the charity then please do let me know via the details below.
Andrea Jenkyns, MRSA Action UK Trustee and East Midlands Representative for the Charity.
My dad caught MRSA from a routine procedure, says Boston councillor
Saturday, April 07, 2012
A BOSTON councillor is hoping to use a personal tragedy to help other people after being selected as a trustee for a national charity. Andrea Jenkyns, who represents Boston North West on Lincolnshire County Council, has been elected as a trustee of MRSA Action UK and will also become East Midlands representative for the charity. Here she tells Target readers how the death of her father prompted her to get involved with the charity and what she hopes to achieve through her new role...
Councillor Andrea Jenkyns has been elected as a trustee of MRSA Action UK
ON November 15, my life changed forever as a result of MRSA. My wonderful dad Clifford Jenkyns passed away on that sad day. In July, he went into hospital for a routine procedure to insert a lung drain. This is where he caught MRSA. My dad bravely fought against this terrible infection for more than four months.
He went from being a vibrant, full of life and healthy person, who always helped other people, to being weak, frail and weighing less than seven stone.
Then on that November night we lost him. He died in the arms of my wonderful mum. MRSA not only affects patients but also leaves a lasting scar on the hearts and lives of those who are left behind.
This is the reason that I became a trustee of MRSA Action UK. I want to support those who have gone through what my family and I have gone through, and I want to do all I can to spread the word, and prevent it from happening to other people.
MRSA Action UK was founded by a group of people who all had life-changing experiences or lost a loved one through contracting MRSA.
We came together through our involvement in supporting each other and have broadened our membership by supporting others through our work with healthcare providers and the agencies that support the health economy.
We have formed alliances with other organisations from around the UK to join in our campaign for safer standards in our hospitals and healthcare settings.
We are all volunteers and share a common purpose - to relieve the distress and suffering experienced by patients who contract healthcare associated infections.
We aim to raise the awareness of the general public in all areas relating to healthcare-associated infections. MRSA Action UK works alongside other patient groups and charities, regulators, infection prevention and control staff and Government agencies to help bring improvements and safer standards to the healthcare system.
I am pleased to announce that in addition to becoming a trustee of MRSA Action UK, I have also taken on the role as the regional representative for the East Midlands.
If you require any help or support then please do not hesitate to contact me. MRSA Action UK has a wealth of knowledge available to support you, including a guide for those who are going into hospital.
If you are also interested in becoming a member or supporting the charity then please do let me know. Log onto www.mrsaactionuk.net or email andrea.jenkyns@mrsaactionuk.net
Global Health Alert Over Antibiotics Misuse
5:48am UK, Saturday March 17, 2012
Katie Stallard, health correspondent
Antibiotics will soon become so ineffective that a sore throat or grazed knee could kill, according to a warning from the World Health Organisation.
The world is approaching a post-antibiotic era, which could bring about "the end of modern medicine as we know it", according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Dr Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organisation, is warning humans are developing such resistance to the drugs that common complaints like a sore throat or grazed knee could become potentially fatal.
She said routine operations might become too dangerous, with every antibiotic ever developed "at risk of becoming useless".
The threat was "global, extremely serious, and growing", Dr Chan said. "A post-antibiotic era means, in effect, an end to modern medicine as we know it," she told a conference of infectious disease experts in Copenhagen.
"Things as common as strep throat or a child's scratched knee could once again kill. "Some sophisticated interventions, like hip replacements, organ transplants, cancer chemotherapy, and care of pre-term infants, would become far more difficult or even too dangerous to undertake.
"At a time of multiple calamities in the world, we cannot allow the loss of essential antimicrobials, essential cures for many millions of people, to become the next global crisis."
Replacement treatments, she cautioned, would be more costly, more toxic and might require treatment in intensive care units.
Life-saving drugs to treat tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/Aids could also be affected.Dr Chan said: "Among the world's 12 million cases of tuberculosis in 2010, WHO estimates that 650,000 involved multidrug-resistant TB strains.
"Treatment of MDR-TB is extremely complicated, typically requiring two years of medication with toxic and expensive medicines, some of which are in constant short supply. "Even with the best of care, only slightly more than 50% of these patients will be cured."
She criticised the "gross misuse" of antibiotics both in humans and livestock.
She said doctors prescribing the drugs too frequently and for too long, and the greater quantities of antibiotics used in healthy animals worldwide than in unhealthy humans, was a cause for great concern.
The pipeline, in terms of developing new antibiotics, is "virtually dry", Dr Chan warned. "The cupboard is nearly bare. Prospects for turning this situation around look dim." But, despite the global warnings, demand for antibiotics from patients has not diminished. A north London GP, Dr David Lloyd, told Sky News: "A lot of our patients, because of the pressures they are under in their everyday lives, feel that they need everything they can to get better as quickly as possible.
"Their employers are yelling at them to come back to work, they're feeling terrible. They want to get better as quickly as they can, and so, naturally, they think that antibiotics are going to help them get better.
"But we know that most minor infections are what we call "self-limiting" and don't get better with antibiotics."
It's a world Susan Fallon has something of an insight into watching her 17 year old daughter, a fit and healthy A level student die within days when she contracted MRSA after being admitted to hospital with a virus.
"She started fitting on the Monday, they took her to intensive care and she died on the Friday afternoon". To see the report visit http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16190199
Tuesday 28th February 2012
MRSA Action UK were contacted this month by BBC Breakfast Reporter Jenny Hill. Liverpool Broadgreen Hospital were showing how they had brought about significant improvements in infection prevention and control with the combined efforts of staff linked with using technology to help keep the burden of bacteria at bay in busy wards.
Mavis Law spoke to Jenny Hill about the loss of Colin at the age of 33 who had gone into hospital for tests and picked up the MRSA that killed him, and how this had devastated the family. Mavis welcomed the improvements at the hospital, although Colin was not treated in this hospital, Mavis remembers the experience she had with the hospital when her mum and brother were treated there. At the time it was perceived as one of the worst hospitals in the country for its infection rates, and Mavis did experience the worry of having to hope that they would not succumb to an infection after what had happened to dear Colin. Derek Butler spoke of the Government putting pressure on the NHS to save 20 billion pounds, he said they should ring fence spending in this area and not reduce training and infection control budgets.
Colleagues from the USA are also looking to help reduce the burden further by helping with hand hygiene monitoring through their new technology. They will be in discussion with Liverpool Broad Green Hospital, who are among a number of hospitals who are interested in the approach to hand hygiene auditing. We are hopeful that Jenny Hill will be able to report further on these developments in the future, as we expect to see best practice as the norm in all hospitals.
The war against superbugs
Published on 5 February 2012
Judith Duffy
THEY have been the scourge of hospital wards for years and caused or contributed to the deaths of more than 5000 Scots over the past decade.
Millions of pounds have already been spent trying to wipe out hospital superbugs such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile (C diff), but still hundreds of cases are being reported every year. Now the Scottish Government is to plough another 50 million pounds into tackling the problem.
The Sunday Herald has discovered that, in the past two years alone, hygiene inspectors have discovered more than 400 instances of hospitals failing to meet infection control standards.
A leading infection expert also told the Sunday Herald that Scotland is "nowhere near" seeing the end of the superbug scourge in hospitals.
Meanwhile, nearly 1500 cases of superbugs picked up outwith hospitals - such as in care homes - have been recorded by health boards in the past 12 months.
A raft of measures have recently been introduced to improve hygiene in hospitals, including the setting up of the Healthcare Environment Inspectorate (HEI).
The HEI sends superbug "hit squads" into hospitals to check that standards are being adhered to, with both announced and unannounced inspections taking place in each acute hospital at least once every three years. These hit squads have discovered an increasing number of cases year on year.
In its first year of operation, in 2009-10, 36 inspections were carried out, resulting in 172 "requirements" being issued to hospitals for failing to meet Healthcare Associated Infection (HAI) standards, during 36 inspections. The following year 210 requirements were issued during 38 inspections.
Some of Scotland's leading hospitals have performed poorly in the spot checks, with inspectors uncovering dirty toilets, dusty floors and badly stained walls at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. In October, a report raised "significant concerns" over cleanliness after finding dirty equipment, including a heart defibrillator, and dusty floors at Glasgow's Southern General.
Margaret Watt, chair of Scotland Patients Association, said while she believed standards were improving, patients were still complaining about hygiene in hospitals.
"We did hear of a hospital visitor that tried to get some gel for hand washing and the canisters were empty," she said. "Four of them were empty and they had to go to a fifth one before they got any gel and could go and visit the person they were visiting. These are things that shouldn't happen."
She added: "We also passed on a complaint to the HEI the other week about a cleaner who thought it was appropriate to use the same cloth for everything, and wiped a patients' tray with the cloth she wiped the floor with."
Watt said the work of the HEI was vital, but she believed it should have more staff and all inspections should be carried out without prior notice.
"I would like to see more staff and more people being taken to task," she said. "Unannounced visits are what you are looking for, as it keeps people on their toes."
But it is not all bad news. Latest annual figures from Health Protection Scotland show 351 cases of MRSA were reported by hospital laboratories in 2010, a year-on-year drop of around 17%. In addition, 1492 cases of MSSA, which is related to the same bug which causes MRSA, were also found, representing an annual drop of 1.5%.
In 2010, the number of new cases of C diff was 2219, down 39% on 2009.
However, last month health workers were warned to be vigilant for outbreaks of C diff after figures showed a 4% rise in cases between July and September, compared with the previous quarter.
Professor Hugh Pennington, emeritus professor of bacteriology at Aberdeen University, cautioned that the official figures did not reveal the "whole picture".
He said cases of MRSA were measured by recording infections in the bloodstream, but other cases such as wound infections are not included in those statistics.
Pennington said that improvements in the care of intravenous lines - a common route for bloodstream infections - could explain the decrease, rather than measures such as hospital cleaning and handwashing.
"It is entirely right and proper that a lot more attention to that issue [bloodstream infections] has been paid to over the past few years. But it is only part of the picture and there is still a lot of MRSA about.
"Bloodstream infections are good as a general indicator. It is giving a general picture, although one has to be aware it is attacking it through a particular route which might give a false sense of optimism."
He added: "We are nowhere near saying we have seen the back of the bug. There is a long way to go yet until we are at the [low] levels they have been at in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Holland for example, where they really never had a big problem to start with."
The Scottish Government's budget for tackling superbugs will be 25m in 2012-13 and 2013-14 for each year. The funding will be given to health boards to use for ongoing initiatives such as rolling out a national programme to screen patients for MRSA in hospitals and employing infection control managers.
A Government spokesman said cases of MRSA and MSSA in Scotland were at the lowest ever level since records began in 2005 and cases of C diff had dropped by nearly 80% since 2007.
He added: "But we need to maintain the pace of improvement to keep bringing the number of infections down."
The additional cost of treating and caring for each patient with a healthcare-associated infection (HAI) estimated to be between 4000 and 15,000 pounds. Health boards have been set strict new targets to meet by 2013. They will be expected to achieve a C diff infection rate of 0.39 or below per 1000 total occupied bed days, in patients aged over 65. The rates currently range from 0.15 in NHS Forth Valley to 0.64 in NHS Ayrshire and Arran.
For MRSA and MSSA, which are included in a general category of staphylococcus aureus bacterium, the target is 0.26 cases per 1000 bed days. NHS Highland currently has the lowest rate at 0.21, with NHS Forth Valley recording the highest at 0.45.
Dr Charles Saunders, deputy chair of the British Medical Association Scotland and a consultant in public health medicine, claimed huge improvements had been made in reducing HAI rates, although he also raised concerns over whether progress can continue to be made as quickly in the future.
"There are things which are countering those improvements, one of which is the bed occupancy rates," he said. "There is pretty good evidence that once you get high bed occupancy rates then it is very difficult to stop a lot of HAI.
"Part of that is because you don't have time to get things properly cleaned and partly it is because once you get to those high rates, you tend to move people around hospitals a lot. So they get admitted to one ward and maybe go through three or four different wards in the next few days.
"If they have anything when they come in, they have an opportunity to spread it quite widely and they also obviously increase the opportunity they have to pick up stuff by being in different wards."
He also warned financial constraints on health boards could have an impact on tackling the problem in the coming years.
"Pressure on budgets is probably going to put more stress on hospital systems in terms of turnover and pushing more people through perhaps than can be done so safely," he said. "I think we are likely to maintain where we have got to, but it will make continuing improvements more difficult."
The issue of hospital superbugs is in the spotlight with the ongoing Vale of Leven Hospital inquiry, which is investigating an outbreak of C diff at the Dunbartonshire hospital between January 2007 and June 2008, which claimed at least 18 lives.
Theresa Fyffe, director of the Royal College of Nursing Scotland, said the inquiry was a "constant reminder" of the tragic consequences of an outbreak.
"I look forward to the findings of the inquiry being published so that health boards and staff across the country can take these into account," she added.
"While a lot of work has been carried out in recent years and dramatic improvements in infection rates and cleanliness have been seen, there is always more to be done."
In the wake of the Vale of Leven outbreak, each NHS board has been required to publish a "snapshot" picture of the number of HAIs recorded at each hospital, on a bi-monthly basis.
The figures show that nearly 700 cases of MSSA, 700 of C diff and more than 100 cases of MRSA have been recorded outwith hospitals over the past 12 months - infections which patients may have picked up in places such as care homes or in the general community.
And experts last week warned of the threat of potentially deadly strains of MRSA which are easily passed between people outside of hospitals and can cause serious illness even in healthy individuals.
Cases of what is known as "PVL-positive community acquired" MRSA strains have been recorded in the UK - including the variety known as USA 300, which can lead to a flesh-eating form of pneumonia, and passes easily through skin-to-skin contact.
Derek Butler, chair of charity MRSA Action UK, said: "The PVL strain can cause very serious infection, especially in the lungs or the skin. It is becoming harder to treat.
"The fear is if that strain gets into the hospitals and mixes with the hospital-acquired strains, then we could have a "super" superbug, which will be virtually impossible to treat."
THE pioneer of antiseptic surgery Joseph Lister would be "disturbed" at a lack of attention to hygiene practices in the NHS today, according to a leading surgeon.
John MacFie, the president of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland, said Lister, who studied and practised medicine in Edinburgh and Glasgow, was a perfectionist who demanded high standards of all his staff.
But he added: "I suspect he might look at modern care in the NHS and be disturbed at the lack of attention to hygiene by both individuals and organisations. I fear he would be shocked by the overcrowding of modern hospitals and the commonplace finding of bed occupancies of greater than 100%".
MacFie made his comments ahead of a talk he will be delivering at a major conference being held by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) this week, to mark the 100th anniversary of Lister's death.
The event in Edinburgh will feature lectures on Lister's work and modern surgical techniques and is expected to attract around 400 surgeons and health experts from across the UK, Europe and the US.
The routine hospital visit which led to the death of a grandmother
5 February 2012
When Helen McCafferty went into hospital for treatment for an irregular heartbeat, her daughter Linda expected it would be a routine procedure.
But Helen, who was known as Nellie, had to battle serious blood infections after contracting MRSA. She died six months later in January 2006, aged 82.
Linda, 49, from Glasgow, said the cause of death was listed as pneumonia on the death certificate, but she believes MRSA contributed to her mother's demise.
She said: "She went in with an irregular heartbeat, she had been in before with that. Usually she would get medication and then she was back home again fine.
"But this particular time she had gone in and they had put a line in through her groin to give her medication straight to her heart. We believe that MRSA entered the site.
"She became very, very ill with sepsis. She survived the first bout of that but she had a recurrence of sepsis all the time after and she eventually died in 2006."
Linda said her mother also contracted MRSA in her eye, causing an irritating and painful infection.
"At one point I was quite concerned that she might have lost the eye or something dreadful like that," she said.
She added: "One minute it was just an irregular heartbeat that she had been in hospital many times before with and then all of sudden that happened. My mother's health just deteriorated and it was harrowing to watch.
"She was 82 and she never smoked, she never drank. She was a good 82."
Other members of Linda's family have contracted superbugs in hospitals, and she now helps support other people who have been affected by MRSA through an online forum.
She said: "A lot of people come on the forum and they didn't even know their loved ones had MRSA until they get medical records or whatever, as it is not on death certificates. We call them the hidden victims."
21 January 2012 Last updated at 11:38
Deep clean for Belfast hospital where three babies have died
Pseudomonas bacteria can cause infections in the chest, blood and urine
The neo-natal ward at Belfast's Royal Jubilee Hospital is undergoing a deep clean this weekend, following the deaths of three babies from a bacterial infection.
The three infants died over a two-week period this month, having contracted the Pseudomonas infection.
A fourth baby is now being treated and all others in the unit are being tested to see if they have the infection.
The infection can live on surfaces for several days, one expert told the BBC.
Infection risk
Pseudomonas can cause breathing difficulties and tissue damage.
Three other babies at the hospital were diagnosed with the infection. Two recovered, while the other died of an unrelated cause.
It has also emerged that in December at Altnagelvin Hospital in Londonderry, a baby died of a different strain of the bacterial infection.
GP Dr Sarah Jarvis told BBC News the infection was a risk to "the very very young, the very very old, burns victims or cancer victims".
She said the infection can take hold in areas such as sinks and in water pipes with stagnant water. The bacteria can live for several days on surfaces but can be destroyed by vigorous hand-washing.
She urged all visitors to make use of hygiene facilities when they visited the wards, as many people unwittingly brought infections into them.
A helpline has been set up to deal with concerns
Professor Hugh Pennington, a bacteriologist from Aberdeen University, said identifying the source of the of the infection would not be easy.
"This is very, very difficult detective work basically because one has to look at all sorts of possibilities," he said.
"This is a bug which of course is very common in nature so just finding it doesn't necessarily mean that that's the cause of the problem, you know, that you've identified it."
The Department of Health in Northern Ireland said there was no evidence to link the current outbreak in the Royal Hospital with that of the incident at Altnagelvin in December.
It said all necessary control measures were put in place at the time and "the infection was eradicated".
A helpline has been set up for parents on 028 90 635 389.
The chief executive of the Belfast Health Trust earlier said a full investigation was being carried out.
However, Colm Donaghy said that the "first priority is the safety of the babies and ensuring the work that we do keeps babies safe"
SUE FALLON BRINGS THE HUMAN COST TO THE ATTENTION OF GOVERNMENT OVER THE TICKING TIME BOMB AND LACK OF DESPERATELY NEEDED ANTIBIOTICS
Thursday 10th November 2011
MRSA Action UK Vice Chair Sue Fallon, helped to raise the plight faced by the NHS and health providers around the world, by telling her harrowing story to BBC reporter Jenny Hill yesterday. Tearful Sue told Jenny "The hardest thing is to have to tell your 12 year old daughter that her sister is dying."
As Sue clutched the photo of Sammie aged just 17, she showed just how important it is to address the antibiotic crisis. Sammie died from MRSA aged 17 when she had a bone marrow sample taken from her hip. Poor infection control practice was probably to blame, as the resistant superbug MRSA took control of Sammie's body. MRSA is just one of many resistant superbugs that we are facing and new antibiotics are needed to stop infections overwhelming patients like Sammie in the future.
Experts are warning that the NHS faces a "ticking time bomb".
Professor Laura Piddock, president of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, said health services faced a "near depletion" of effective antibiotics.
The NHS faces a ticking time bomb over the lack of modern antibiotics due to increasing resistance to infections, and must take immediate action to prevent an unprecedented crisis. The situation is so grave that experts believe urgent action is needed to accelerate the approved licensing process for new antibiotics, adopting similar regulatory procedures that produced antiviral therapies for the treatment of HIV/AIDS more speedily. Professor Laura Piddock, President of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC), warned that that the near depletion of effective antibiotics will have a devastating impact on global health, and that we need to identify new ways of public/private partnership for their discovery, research and development. Earlier this month in a press release she said:
"The magnitude of the crisis we face becomes apparent when we note that 16 new antibacterial agents were approved and brought to market between 1983-1987, compared with less than four agents between 2008-12.
"The dearth of new antibiotics reaching the marketplace today potentially threatens not only the management of 'superbugs', such as NDM 1 producing E. coli and multi-drug resistant gonorrhea, but also the success of many routine treatments and procedures, from life-saving transplants and cancer chemotherapy, to joint replacements and therapies for cystic fibrosis sufferers. I fear there could be a return to a pre-antibiotic era where many people suffer or die from untreatable bacterial infections."
MRSA - the resistant superbug that killed Sammie
A petition to 10 Downing Street, signed by researchers, scientists and clinicians working in the NHS, as well as the public, calls upon the government to:
Identify opportunities to safely streamline and accelerate the licensing processes for new antibiotic agents
Address and incentivise the commercial challenges faced by industry in developing and bringing new antibiotics to the marketplace.
Encourage greater partnership working between pharmaceutical and diagnostics companies as well as academia in the UK to maximise the conversion of new discoveries into licensed antibiotics available for use on the NHS.
Establish an All-Party Parliamentary Group on Antimicrobial Discovery, Research and Development.
We have created an antibiotic paradox where our modern healthcare system and medicine is at risk for future generations. We need to take the initiative and remember that in the battle against resistant bacteria, it's not the strongest or fittest that survive, but those that are the most responsive to change.
John Howard Crews died aged 54, one of the thousands of victims of the superbug MRSA
On Saturday 1st October BBC reporter Ben Ando met Derek Butler at Christchurch, Wesham to talk about the loss of his stepfather John Howard Crews to MRSA. The BBC News story covered the innovations being used to tackle hospital acquired infections such as MRSA in Trafford Hospital, and spoke of the measures that are being used to reduce the risks of getting an infection more.......
Published on Wednesday 20 July 2011 13:01
Maria Cann, Secretary of MRSA Action UK (left) and Edwina Currie, Patron of MRSA Action UK (right) present Derek with his International Man of the Year Award at Springfields
THE dedicated charitable efforts of a Springfields employee have received global recognition.
Derek Butler, who works in the engineering workshops at the Westinghouse nuclear fuel manufacturing facility at Springfields, and who lives in Kirkham, has been named International Man of the Year for his involvement in the charity MRSA Action UK - the only charity in the UK representing victims and dependents of healthcare infections.
Derek helped establish the charity following the death of his step-father due to MRSA and in 2007 was appointed as chairman.
He said: "The charity aims to raise public awareness of healthcare infections, campaigns for safety standards and supports victims and dependants."
The charity has evolved to become far more pro-active in its approach to lobbying politicians and drug companies to highlight the issues associated with MRSA, which has included Derek visiting 10 Downing Street to talk to policy advisers. In addition to attending quarterly trustee meetings, meeting with government ministers and health officials and attending conferences, Derek finds a lot of his spare time is spent dealing with phone queries for information and assistance.
"During my role as chairman I have been able to introduce the partnership approach applied at Springfields Fuels to many of the dealings of the charity," said Derek.
"I'm very grateful to the company, without whose support I would not have had the time to be able to carry out my responsibilities to the charity."
The award was presented late last year at the World MRSA Day in Chicago by the MRSA Survivors Network - a US-based charity associated with raising awareness and providing support and education of MRSA.
In recognition of his award the charity's UK patron, ex-MP Edwina Currie, visited Springfields to thank Derek for his dedication and commitment and to formally present the award.
She said: "Derek has made an enormous difference to the MRSA Action UK charity and to the lives of everyone involved with it. He is a tireless campaigner and he brought me in as the charity's patron at the time the infection figures in hospitals was rising dramatically and much of the improvements since have been due to his relentless campaigning.
"However, none of us will be satisfied until every hospital, doctor's surgery and care home is much safer than it is now."
Edwina Currie says doctors are 'too posh to wash hands'
Doctors are "too posh" to wash their hands in hospitals, leaving patients at risk of contracting superbugs, according to Edwina Currie.
Edwina Currie has said that trusts should spend money on extra staff to tackle problems of cleanliness, rather than facing fines Photo: PA
By Martin Beckford, Health Correspondent 7:00AM BST 27 May 2011
The former Tory health minister, who is now patron of the charity MRSA Action UK, said she had also seen medical staff wearing outdoor clothes and long sleeves on wards, increasing the risk of infections.
She also said that trusts should spend money on extra staff to tackle problems of cleanliness, rather than facing fines.
Mrs Currie, who caused a scandal in Government when she warned of the dangers of salmonella in British eggs, said: "I've come across many instances of bad practice which at the least are folly, at worst criminally negligent.
"Sharps being stuck into mattresses "so we can find them" Commodes rusting and smelly. Floors with stains, pools of congealed blood by toilets, waste bags left in corridors. Intravenous lines being reused repeatedly with inadequate sterilisation.
"Doctors "too posh to wash" their hands, or wearing scruffy outdoor apparel with long sleeves. No wonder it's so hard to eradicate MRSA and other superbugs."
In an article for the website GovToday, she concluded: "Part of the problem, in my opinion, is that we forget we are dealing with human beings.
"If staff thought that patient in the bed was their mother, or their daughter, they might not rush past, and they might hesitate before 'forgetting' to wash their hands."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8538475/Edwina-Currie-says-doctors-are-too-posh-to-wash-hands.html
| govtoday Editors Feature 
Edwina Currie, Patron for MRSA Action discusses the ongoing campaign to reduce infection rates across hospitals and explains the importance of good hygiene "The Leeds NHS Trust is facing a potential fine of 400,000 pounds because there have been too many instance of MRSA in its hospitals. The campaign waged against hospital superbugs demonstrates the power of action by ordinary people affected by a disaster. Leeds NHS Trust faced headlines earlier this year for reaching its maximum target of no more than 19 cases of MRSA in the year ending March 31st, having hit the 19 with two months still to go. With fines of possibly 400,000 pounds or more in the offing, hospital officials did what they should have done years before: ordered MRSA screening for all acute patients, and a case review of every single case to see exactly how it occurred. They will have found what their patients would regard as the "bleedin' obvious": lack of hygiene, lack of attention to detail, lack of commitment by some staff to the rigorous standards needed to care successfully for thousands of sick people at close quarters in a busy hospital. As Patron of the charity MRSA Action UK, I've come across many instances of bad practice which at the least are folly, at worst criminally negligent. Sharps being stuck into mattresses "so we can find them." Commodes rusting and smelly. Floors with stains, pools of congealed blood by toilets, waste bags left in corridors. Intravenous lines being reused repeatedly with inadequate sterilisation. Doctors "too posh to wash" their hands, or wearing scruffy outdoor apparel with long sleeves. No wonder it's so hard to eradicate MRSA and other superbugs. When it comes to C diff, we're often talking about out-dated medical practice including inappropriate broad-spectrum antiobiotic use, wiping out all the gut flora so that C diff can then proliferate. Poor hygiene then spreads it around. Both C diff and MRSA are becoming endemic in many nursing homes too, where training standards are much lower than in acute hospitals - in Leeds recently almost a quarter of residents of nursing homes tested positive for MRSA. I've toured hospitals where the official policies are pristine, only to find that at ward level nobody knows about them. In the Royal Free, for example, officials told me everyone used hand gel as they entered a ward, only for me to point out that, standing at the entrance to a ward, I'd just counted seven staff enter without doing so. Their excellent rules stated that cannulas (a known site of infection) should only be inserted if necessary and removed once no longer required; when I asked several patients with cannulas taped to hands or wrists when these were last used, the answer was, "a couple of days ago." Part of the problem, in my opinion, is that we forget we are dealing with human beings. If staff thought that patient in the bed was their mother, or their daughter, they might not rush past, and they might hesitate before "forgetting" to wash their hands. When I speak on behalf of the charity, I put human stories to the statistics, and never fail to produce gasps of horror from some of those listening. And did Leeds have to fork out 400,000 pounds? The latest figures (available on the MRSA Action UK website) suggest that the Trust as a whole ended up with 31 cases in the year ending March 31 2011. Pressure from watchdogs does not appear to have had the desired effect - yet. Personally I'd prefer that huge sum to be spent on extra staff, not on a fine. Good hygiene is not a matter of money, but of understanding and commitment, and both still seem to be in short supply. |
| Written by Edwina Currie |
| Tuesday, 24 May 2011 16:51 |
Copyright (c) 2011 Govtoday
Special report: When the drugs don't work
Thu Mar 31, 2011 7:29am
Kate Kelland and Ben Hirschler
Suzanne Plunkett / REUTERS
David Livermore, director of the Antibiotic Resistance Monitoring & Reference Laboratory at the Health Protection Agency, holds a plate which was coated with the antibiotic-resistant bacteria called Klebsiella with a mutation called NDM 1 and then exposed to various antibiotics, in his laboratory in north London
Out on the streets, Steve Owen is running the same race - physically pounding the pavements to draw attention to the problem of drug-resistant infections.
Owen's father Donald died four years ago of multiple organ failure in a British hospital. He had checked in for a knee operation. But what he got was methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, commonly known as MRSA, a so-called "superbug" that all the drugs his doctors prescribed couldn't beat. After almost 18 months of severe pain, the infection got into his blood, overpowered his vital organs and killed him. More....
By Jenny Hope
Last updated at 1:10 AM on 29th January 2011
NHS on alert as wave of super-resistant bugs hits hospitals
The Health Service was put on red alert yesterday after nearly 400 cases of infection by deadly superbugs were identified in hospitals.
At least five deaths have been linked to the strains of bacteria that are resistant to even the most powerful antibiotics.
Some of the infected patients were health tourists who imported the bacteria after surgery in India and Pakistan.
The Health Protection Agency today issued new guidance to infection control specialists and microbiologists about tackling infections resistant to carbapenem antibiotics - widely regarded as all but the last line of defence against bacteria already resistant to standard drugs.
Latest figures from the HPA show 383 cases of infections caused by resistant strains of the bacteria Klebsiella and E.Coli between 2003 and the end of 2010.
These cases include hospital pneumonias, urinary infections or blood poisoning.
They include 80 cases of NDM-1, which is short for New Delhi metallo-beta-
lactamose, after the place where it was identified, of which 43 cases were reported last year.
There were claims last year that five patients had died in NHS hospitals while infected with NDM-1 following a study in The Lancet reporting that 50 Britons were infected. It is one of a number of bugs that destroy carbapenem antibiotics which have been found in the UK.
Laboratory tests for the bugs are outlined in the latest guidance, along with remaining drugs that may still work.
Dr David Livermore, director of the HPA's antibiotic resistance monitoring and reference laboratory, said: "It is critical, always, to understand how much of modern medicine - from gut surgery to transplants - depends on the ability to treat infection. If that ability is lost, through resistance, then medicine will take a great step backwards.
"The emergence of carbapenem resistance is a major public health concern and we hope this new guidance will help infection control specialists across this UK to better recognise, treat and prevent infections caused by bacteria with these resistances.
"NDM and the other enzymes that cause carbapenem resistance can be produced by many different types of bacteria, which can affect various body sites.
"The severity of the infections caused by bacteria with resistance to carbapenems varies. It depends on several factors including a patient's general health, and the site of the infection.
"The spread of antibiotic resistance underscores the need for good infection control in hospitals both in the UK and overseas, and highlights the need for new antibiotics to be developed."
NDM-1 is an enzyme that alters bacteria, making them resistant to nearly all antibiotics, and has largely been found only in E.coli bacteria so far.
However, experts are alarmed by its potential ability to transfer into superbugs already among us, such as MRSA and C.diff, which would make the resulting infection more dangerous.
Derek Butler, chairman of the pressure group MRSA Action, which raises awareness of all hospital infections, said health chiefs must extend the monitoring and recording of all bacteria and extend screening into the community, especially care homes.
The decision to eventually axe the HPA as part of the bonfire of the quangos was a "clear mistake", he said.
Advice was issued by the HPA last year to healthcare professionals on the need to be "extra vigilant" when dealing with infections caused by carbapenem resistant bugs among patients who have travelled to or been hospitalised overseas, particularly the Indian sub-continent.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1351630/NHS-alert-wave-super-resistant-bugs-hits-hospitals.html#ixzz1CWs96WOQ
WARNING OVER DEADLY NEW GENERATION OF SUPERBUGS 
Infections expert Professor Hugh Pennington
Wednesday January 26,2011
By Judith Duffy
SCOTLAND has been placed on alert over the emergence of deadly new superbugs which are resistant to even the most powerful of antibiotics.
Health officials have warned of the growing menace of bacteria which are able to destroy "last resort" drugs used when all other treatments have failed.
Among the cases found north of the Border are a deadly superbug imported from the Indian sub-continent, which produces an enzyme known as NDM-1.
It is thought to have been first brought into the UK by patients having cosmetic surgery abroad.
During 2009 a total of 10 cases of bacteria which were resistant to powerful carbapenem antibiotics were identified by Scottish laboratories, according to a new report.
Dr Anne Eastaway, consultant microbiologist at Health Protection Scotland, said although they were rare it was vital to prevent them from becoming established.
She said: "Within the 10 that were reported there were two within the KPC group. That is a type of resistance which has caused problems in a number of countries around the world, because bacteria that carry it seem to be able to spread, particularly within hospitals.
"The other one is the NDM-1 from the Far East and our concern about that it is a gene that can jump between the species, so we do not want to let that one get established.
"If it does become established in the Scottish population it will be very difficult to control it."
The NHS Report on Antimicrobial Use and Resistance in Humans found around one in six cases of E-coli can now be classed as being resistant to at least three different antibiotics.
A small number were found to have the ability to resist up to eight different kinds of antibiotics.
E-coli is the commonest cause of lethal bloodstream infection, especially in old or sick people.
The figures showed cases of such infections increased by more than a third in 2009.
There were 4,427 reported blood infections caused by E-coli and other less well known bacteria such as K pneumoniae and Paeruginosa, up from 3,207 in 2008.
Meanwhile the NHS achieved a 1.6 per cent drop in prescriptions of antibiotics in 2009.
It is aiming to reduce inappropriate use of the drugs, which has been linked to the development of resistant strains of infections.
Infections expert Professor Hugh Pennington, of Aberdeen University, warned of the need for vigilance.
He said: "We have got to have good systems for checking what is happening and respond by having very good infection control in hospital.
"We also have to make sure we are only using antibiotics when they are absolutely necessary.
"We have learnt by experience that these bugs are very clever and if we let our guard down for a minute they take advantage of it."
Read more: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/225335/Warning-over-deadly-new-generation-of-superbugs/Warning-over-deadly-new-generation-of-superbugs#ixzz1D1qFWPYz
School toilet guidance in Wales 'doesn't go far enough'
24 January 2011 Last updated at 06:49
Guidance on school toilets in Wales does not do enough to cut the risk of dangerous bugs spreading, a watchdog claims
Consumer Focus Wales said councils should audit whether toilets are adequate and whether children can wash their hands. It said draft guidance from the Welsh Assembly Government did not meet the recommendations of a report into the 2005 south Wales E. coli outbreak.
The assembly government said it was consulting on how to improve standards.Consumer Focus said the draft guidance did not go far enough to reduce the risk of pupils spreading bugs such as E. coli O157 and salmonella.
It backed a recommendation from Professor Hugh Pennington, who led the public inquiry into the 2005 outbreak.E. coli O157 from contaminated meat made more than 150 people ill and killed five-year-old Mason Jones from Deri, near Bargoed.
Prof Pennington said local authorities should have a programme of audits to make sure all schools have adequate toilets and hand washing facilities. The recommendation was intended to minimise the chances of illness spreading from person to person if there was another outbreak.
Consumer Focus Wales senior policy advocate Jennie Bibbings said standards of hygiene should not suffer as a result of public spending cuts.
Source: "BBC News
MRSA Action UK has been certified as a provider of safe, reliable, high quality health and social care information
19th January 2012
MRSA Action UK has been certified as a provider of high quality health and social care information by The Information Standard scheme. MRSA Action UK met the scheme criteria of producing safe and reliable health and social care information. The organisation has consequently been awarded The Information Standard quality mark, which it can display on its literature and website illustrating to the public that its information can be trusted. More....
