| Patients in fear of
hospital superbugs
More than one in two people
has caught a bug in hospital or knows someone who has, according
to an alarming survey.
The finds show
that the dangers posed by hospital-acquired infections are a
major concern. Such infections hit 5,000 patients a year and
cost the NHS at least £1 billion. Official figures show they are
at a record high, with dirty wards, poor hygiene by doctors and
nurses, and the overuse of antibiotics being blamed.
The risk of
catching the MRSA (Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus)
bug - against which many antibiotics are ineffective - is more
than 40 times as high in Britain as in Denmark and the
Netherlands. In the latest survey, 56 per cent said they had
caught a bug or knew someone who had. The figure rose to 66
percent of those aged 55 to 64.
Poor hygiene in
hospitals was an anxiety for almost two-thirds, with concern
increasing to seven out of ten for those aged 55 to 64.
In the survey of
1,000 readers by Good Housekeeping magazine, half had taken out
private health care because of their worries about the NHS.
More than half
think the Health Service has got worse in the last five years
and three-quarters see no hope of improvement in the next five
years. Vivienne Parry, the magazine's science director, said:
'It was astonishing to find one in two readers has experience of
catching a bug or knows someone made ill in hospital.
'The high
response could reflect multiple reporting of the same cases, but
it may also be caused by under-reporting within hospitals.' She
said the problem is getting worse despite billions of pounds of
extra funding. 'A decade ago, I sat in a ward looking at a
half-eaten biscuit on the floor,' said Mrs Parry. 'My son Ellis,
then three, was at death's door because full-blown septicaemia
had overwhelmed him after a trivial accident. His life was saved
by the NHS. But ten days later when we left, that biscuit was in
the same place.'
She said a
'blizzard of initiatives', including star ratings for 'clean'
hospitals, seemed to have achieved little. 'When I went to see a
friend recently in the same hospital, there was still filth
under the beds, the lavatories were sordid and the atmosphere
chaotic,' she added.
Health Secretary
John Reid has told managers to combat the problem, with all
hospitals in England having to appoint an infection 'czar'.
From Daily Mail,
8 Jan 2004 |
