[Ip-health] UK - BBC - Many hospital bugs 'neglected'

[Miles Teg]

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So the health system is in a tragic state. But one does not get the sense of
this from listening to corporate press and their client states on rational use
discussion at WHO.
The US opposes blatantly any commitment to rational use of medicines, the same
way they opposed rational use (read regulation) of derivatives. The EU, was
enthusiastic at first about rational use then showed their colours as
client-states for Monopoly Pharmasters. One can attribute this partly to the
blind faith in technological progress and its ability to deliver a solution.
Half of the antibiotics in developed countries are irrationally prescribed -
but lets get a technical solution because implementing sensible clinical
guidelines will hurt pharmaster company profits and their rebates to doctors (
in the US at least they say no pens and stationary for "bribing" doctors and
that is progress!).
Like the financial crisis - which shows that the rich countries still will not
wake up to the crappy system they have created - we may have to wait for a
major calamity in the rich countries before they begin to consider doing
something sensible, then retract it because of the Dollar God.
The US at least is better in many respects - it preaches and pushes for its
national interest. The EU really wants to believe it is doing good for the
collective, and more damagingly wants to convince all the world of its
sensible leadership on the issue.
Overriding this is still the belief that the market is the best allocator of
resources. I guess the EU and US really want to forget about Fortis, HBOS, GM,
Chrysler...
Onward toward anti-microbial resistance....
Many hospital bugs 'neglected'
MRSA has been at the forefront of hospital infection control
The NHS in England is neglecting the threat from many healthcare-acquired
infections not covered by government targets, a watchdog has warned.
Efforts to tackle MRSA and Clostridium difficile have been a success, but they
account for only about 15% of cases, the National Audit Office said.
Pneumonia and urinary tract infections are among those which deserve more
attention, its report said.
The Care Quality Commission said they would "keep up the pressure" on trusts.
Two previous reports from the NAO have played a big role in highlighting the
problem of healthcare-associated infections in the NHS.

We remain totally committed to eliminating all preventable healthcare
associated infections
Ann Keen, health minister
It led to targets to reduce rates of MRSA and C. difficile - a pressure which
has successfully cut those infections.
But they account for only a small proportion of the one in 12 patients
admitted to hospital who end up with an infection they did not have before.
Urinary tract infections, largely associated with the use of catheters, are
responsible for 20% of these.
Other bloodstream infections with bacteria such as E. coli are also important,
the NAO said, and limited data suggests they are on the rise.
Compulsory monitoring of healthcare-associated infections should be widened to
cover far more infections and checks should be done to ensure that antibiotics
are being used effectively, it concluded.
Targets
Karen Taylor, report author, said MRSA and C. difficile rates started to come
down only once targets were imposed, although local goals may be more
appropriate for other infections.
Report author Karen Taylor: "The department has got to start measuring all
hospital acquired infections."
"It's looking better for MRSA and C. difficile, which have been subject to
targets, but the main focus of our report is they only account for about 15%
of healthcare-associated infections in hospitals and in the rest of the
infections there's very poor data.
"Some of the bloodstream infections are just as significant on the impact on
the patient."
The report also found that government funding for tackling infections had
saved the NHS money overall.
It added that the controversial "deep clean" programme had boosted staff and
patient confidence - but it was impossible to measure what effect it had had
on the number of infections as other strategies were being implemented at the
same time.

However, even with MRSA and C. difficile there was variation, with 12% of
trusts reporting an MRSA infection.
Amyas Morse, head of the NAO, said that in 2004 the problem with MRSA and C.
difficile had seemed to be "an intractable problem" and hitting the targets
was a "significant achievement".
"Inevitably, with a focused and centrally driven initiative of this kind, the
improvements are not uniform across the NHS and we still don't know in any
meaningful way what impact there has been on other healthcare-associated
infections."
Health minister Ann Keen said: "We remain totally committed to eliminating all
preventable healthcare-associated infections.
"As a nurse myself, I am especially pleased to see that the National Audit
Office has recognised the contribution that nurses and the reintroduction of
matrons onto our wards have had in delivering the reductions in MRSA and C.
difficile infections."
Nigel Ellis, head of national assessment and inspection at the Care Quality
Commission said: "We will keep up the pressure and encourage the NHS to stay
focused on improvements.
"That will include taking swift enforcement action if we find unacceptable
performance."
BBC NEWS | Health | Many hospital bugs 'neglected' (12 June 2009)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8095074.stm[1]

===References:===
  1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8095074.stm