UK - Action to tackle chronic hospital infections problem

Main Category: MRSA / Drug Resistance
Article Date: 05 Dec 2003 - 0:00 PDT


UK government ministers have announced that the UK government is going to take action against the high rate of hospital infections. They aim to reduce the number of cases of drug-resistant 'superbugs' found in wards.

More than five thousand patients a year in the UK are dying because of this. It is costing the National Health Service (NHS) over £1bn ($1.7bn) a year.

This action plan will give infection control teams more powers. They will be able to make changes (this will improve hygiene standards. A rift of measures is being introduced by the government to improve hospital hygiene standards.

Every hospital trust (the NHS is broken down into Hospital Trusts) will be required to have a dedicated director (for infection control). Infection control teams will be expected to be more proactive in tracking down possible (potential) sources of infection.

These teams will talk to every member of staff reminding them of the importance of handwashing (the main way of preventing infections).

The UK Health Secretary, John Reid has said that he feels the NHS is not doing enough to tackle this problem. 'Some of the ways of tackling this problem are the old-fashioned ways. From the top-down, we need hygiene rules enforced from director level. There should be teams going round hospitals, looking at the million little ways in which you can transfer bugs from one to another.'

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