MSP's call to beat superbugs

Nov 27 2009 by Edwin Lawrence, Ayrshire Post (main ed)

TOUGHER action is needed to beat hospital superbugs, says Cathy Jamieson MSP.

And people in Ayrshire have the right to know what is happening in local hospitals, she adds.

Ms Jamieson’s call comes in the wake of reports that five people have died in an outbreak of C. difficile at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee. And worryingly, figures show a massive rise in C. diff cases in Ayrshire.

C. diff is said to have been a cause or contributory cause of 765 Scottish deaths in Scotland in 2008, compared with 597 in 2007. That 28 per cent increase compares with a 29 per cent decrease in England and Wales.

And Ms Jamieson points out that C. diff deaths in Ayrshire and Arran have risen five-fold between 2000 and 2008, from 13 to 65 in 2008.

Labour health spokesperson Ms Jamieson recently visited Maidstone in Kent to look at how they had reduced hospital acquired infections (HAIs).

The MSP believes that a series of measures could be introduced to toughen the inspection regime and ensure greater transparency in the NHS in Scotland.

Ms Jamieson is supporting calls for:

l A single website showing the performance of every hospital in Scotland.

l An immediate inspection of any hospital at which there is an ongoing outbreak to ensure that guidelines are followed.

l Inspectors to have the power to close wards, or any other part of the NHS estate, that fail to take sufficient action to prevent superbugs.

Ms Jamieson said: “Every family should have the right to know that when someone they love goes into hospital they are treated in clean and safe conditions.”