Around a third of superbug cases at a Black Country hospital come from the region’s nursing homes, it is claimed.
Bosses at Russells Hall Hospital, Dudley, say this is hampering attempts to fight the potentially fatal bugs.
They are desperate to reduce the number of outbreaks, a condition which needs to be fulfiled before Dudley Group of Hospitals (DGoH) can be granted “go-it alone” foundation status.
Stringent infection control standards now in place at hospitals have yet to be adopted at many nursing homes and medical staff at Russells Hall have begun swabbing new patients to identify cases.
Adrian Hamlyn, consultant gastroenterologist at Russells Hall Hospital, said: “A good proportion of MRSA has been imported from nursing homes,” he said.
“A practice we have now adopted has been to begin swabbing patients who come in from nursing homes.”
Figure reveal 15 patients at Russells Hall Hospital have been discovered with MRSA since April this year, although no new cases have been identified this month.
Ann Close, director of infection prevention and control at DGoH, said staff were doing everything possible to bring the number of MRSA cases down.
DGoH communications chief Clare Craddock said a new initiative designed to combat superbugs was set to be unveiled later today.
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4 Comments
Well having been into a local nursing home, I am not surprised. Health inspectors are needed to visit these homes on a regular basis. If not enough get rid of the ‘trendy’ jobs in the councils and health service and bring back people who know how to investigate, check and get results.
Simple soap and water and clean clothes is a good start, you know!!! And in this case many of the doctors need to take a good look at them selves first.
They say you’re supposed to go to hospital to get better..’swabbing new patients to identify cases.’ Isn’t that too little, too late?
John-I clearly stated at the public meeting that patients on elective transfer from nursing homes are now tested for MRSA before admission to Russells hall. This way, they can be treated outside the hospital before they subsequently become an infection hazard here.
Also, about 20% of healthy individuals in the community (this could be you) are symptom-free staph. carriers and some of these will be MRSA. It is impractical to swab all visitors, although staff are monitored (I only know of one medical colleague here recently who turned up positive).
The problem is, unfortunately, more complicated than the papers would have. There is, for example, no relationship between MRSA rates and the use of contract cleaners. Male doctors’ ties and white coats are not really part of the equation. It is the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics in the community, especially in the elderly and very young, which casues the emergence of bacterial resistance and, until this is tackled by GPS and vets, no panic measures aimed at hospital health workers will take any effect.
Incidently, our MRSA rate this month is zero.