NHS training drive in battle against MRSA

NHS and MRSA

My mother died on the 1st of August 2005 after being admitted to the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley with a heart attack.

The immediate family discovered purely by chance that she had contracted MRSA on a previous stay in the same hospital some two years earlier. The fact only came to light by chance when my sister caught site of her medical file which had an MRSA warning sticker on the cover. At no stage had medical staff informed either my mother, or family members of her condition.

She had been released back into the community after that previous stay in hospital, and worse still into a care home, where an open wound on her leg was proved mysteriously stubborn to heal. We now know she was suffering from MRSA, and remain very concerned that those changing her dressings and caring for her were blissfully unaware of that fact at the time.

Following her death We managed to get significant press coverage of the 'cover-up', yet annoyingly I read that microbiologists argue that the media are creating an increased atmosphere of fear in the community, aimed more at generating increased newspaper sales and scoring political points. There is no smoke without fire, so as a web developer I have published the following site: http://www.nhsmrsa.com just to add a bit of heat to the debate.

Anyone visiting the Royal Alexandra Hospital, and observing the disgraceful lack of cleanliness, not least in the public toilets, can quickly conclude that the spread of infection is hardly surprising. The day before she died, my mother (an ex nurse) complained bitterly to me about the lack of hygiene standards, and went to her death not even realsising she had MRSA.

The NHS cleaning up their act is not just a matter of addressing microbiology, perhaps things might change by addressing accountability all the way from the front door of the hospital to court proceedings.It is encouraging to see that Patrica Hewitt has proposed making legal proceedings easier, it would be more pleasing to see more visible action on the matter. How about less talk, more soap?

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