Health campaign group slams N&N

Keith Hall and Helen Ellis, from MRSA Support, at the N&N.

27 October 2006 09:46

A man whose wife died from a killer hospital bug today branded conditions at the N&N an “insult” after carrying out an undercover inspection.

Keith Hall, who set up a Norwich branch of MRSA Support after his wife Anne died in 2003, said the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital was no cleaner now than it was when she contracted the bug there.

He and another member of the support group went to the hospital and checked rooms, toilets, corridors and other public parts of the £229 million PFI hospital at Colney.

His claims come as it emerged more than 2,500 nurses are being forced to share just 65 changing rooms at the hospital - the equivalent of 40 nurses or midwives sharing one changing room.

Although guidelines say staff should change in and out of their uniforms at work, it means some are travelling to and from work in the same outfits they wear on the wards - increasing the risk of spreading MRSA, clostridium difficile and other infectious bugs.

Earlier this year Mr Hall was one of a group of campaigners from Norfolk who featured on a special BBC Three documentary as part of a swoop on some of the country's hospitals to highlight MRSA.

Mr Hall, who went undercover at the N&N last weekend, said: “The hospital is now no cleaner than it was when my wife died in 2003. It's an insult to her and to the other people who have died.

“They did turn it around for a while but they've got complacent again. There's limescale at the back of the toilets. It's a scientific fact that limescale holds MRSA.

“The toilets are also supposed to be cleaned every two hours, but that's not being done. We also ran a cloth down a handrail which was dirty.

“Two years ago we campaigned for more changing spaces for nurses. Hospital managers said they would find somewhere but nothing has changed. I see nurses in shops wearing their uniforms and it really angers me.”

Helen Ellis, 68, of Holt Road, Horsford, is another member of the Norwich MRSA group.

She said: “Cleanliness at the hospital does not seem to have improved hugely in the last three years. I think the big problem is training the cleaners. The rate of infection should be coming down, rather than staying stable.”

MRSA killed at least 1,100 patients in England and Wales in 2004, almost twice the number who died in drink-driving accidents. Hospital acquired infections, including MRSA, claim at least 5,000 lives a year, and campaigners claim the true toll could be as high as 10,000.

A spokeswoman for the N&N said: “The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and Cromer Hospital are the only acute hospitals in the region to offer patients an excellent standard of cleanliness, according to the latest inspection results from the National Patient Safety Agency. We are committed to making sure our patients and visitors enjoy high standards of cleanliness. We would suggest that if Keith Hall has any concerns with the cleaning at the N&N that he addresses these with us directly.”

Guidelines from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) state nurses should change in and out of their uniforms at the workplace.

Seven cases of killer bug MRSA were found at the N&N in August just as health bosses said the city was not spending as much as it should to fight infectious diseases. Although MRSA rates are not increasing annually, they are not falling drastically and hospital bosses failed to hit the government target to reduce infection rates by 20pc. From March 2005 to March 2006 there were 58 recorded cases of MRSA. In the previous year the figure was the same and in the 12 months before that there were 64 cases.

Norwich North MP Ian Gibson said: “Changing rooms are not seen as a priority and they should be. It is important that we have more facilities to be able to reduce infection rates.”

The Health of Norwich 2005 report shows Norwich PCT's estimated programme budget for infectious diseases in 2004/5 per 100,000 population was £1,481,000, compared with a national average of £2,012,000.

Chris Coathe, from the Norfolk Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee, said: “There are still worries that staff are walking about in their uniforms far too much.”

A spokesman from the N&N said: “There are more than 60 staff changing rooms at the N&N and we feel this is a sufficient number.”

Have you fought an infectious disease or battled with a superbug? Call Evening News health reporter Sarah Hall on (01603) 772426 or e-mail sarah.hall2@archant.co.uk

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