British Hospitals Blamed in 90 Superbug Deaths
Pastor Dale Morgan
British Hospitals Blamed in 90 Superbug Deaths
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The Associated Press
Friday, October 12, 2007; 10:43 AM
LONDON -- Nurses who didn't wash their hands and left patients lying in
soiled beds were cited in an official report blaming mismanagement for
the deaths of 90 people who contracted a bacterial infection in
hospitals in southern England.
"Significant failings" at all levels contributed to infections of more
than 1,000 patients at three hospitals, the Healthcare Commission said
Thursday.
The patients were infected with Clostridium difficile, or C. diff, which
can cause diarrhea, colitis and other intestinal problems, officials said.
"The Healthcare Commission has passed the copy of the report to us and
that is being reviewed," said a spokesman for Kent Police, speaking on
condition of anonymity in line with force policy.
The report into the spread of the highly contagious bacterium said
nurses at three hospitals run by the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS
trust were often too busy to wash their hands and left patients in their
own excrement.
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS trust acknowledged that it had not
been prepared for "an outbreak of that size and complexity" but had
learned from the mistakes.
The trust's Chief Executive Rose Gibb resigned last week.
Health Minister Ann Keen said the failures, which led to the deaths of
patients over a 2 1/2-year period, must not be repeated.
"Trusts must deliver clean, safe treatment to every patient, every time
and where senior management and trust boards fail to act, they must be
held accountable," Keen said.
Investigations began after a series of complaints about cleanliness, and
when the trust claimed there had been no deaths from the bug despite
admitting there had been hundreds of cases.
The trust has also introduced extra cleaners and nurses on affected
wards and asked family doctors not to send patients with diarrhea to
hospital, measures that will continue until the outbreak ends.
In recent years, Britain's superbug infection rates of bacteria like
Clostridium difficile and MRSA have skyrocketed. In the 1990s, only 5
percent of in-hospital blood infections were from MRSA, the deadly
bacteria resistant to nearly every available antibiotic. In past years,
that figure has jumped to more than 40 percent. Critics blame the rise
on overstretched hospitals that do not have enough money or capacity to
catch superbug infections early.