http://news.scotsman.com/health.cfm?id=29172005

 Mon 10 Jan 2005

Bug cases soar as NHS cleaners cut

ANDREW WOODCOCK AND RUTH ARMSTRONG

THE number of cleaners in the NHS has been slashed by almost half over the
past 20 years - causing cases of infection by hospital superbugs to soar,
according to a survey released today.

There are 55,000 cleaners working in NHS hospitals, compared to around
100,000 in 1984, the report by public sector union Unison found.

Health Secretary John Reid acknowledged cleaning staff levels had played a
part in the massive increase in cases of "superbug" MRSA, which infected
300,000 people last year in British hospitals, killing 5000.

But he insisted the Government was taking action to make hospital
cleanliness a top priority, and rejected pressure to scrap the system under
which many NHS trusts contract out cleaning to private firms.

Hospital-acquired infections cost the NHS about £1 billion per year and,
according to official estimates, claim around 5000 lives. A fifth of these
cases are caused by MRSA.

A patient has a one in 396 chance of contracting MRSA during a ten-day
hospital stay in the Lothians, worse than any other Scottish region,
according to most recent figures.

Hospital chiefs say infection rates in the Lothians is always likely to be
higher than in most other parts of the country because of the specialist
procedures carried out at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, which is a major
teaching hospital.

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
"The research work that has been done for us shows that there has been a
massive increase in the numbers of infections in hospitals and at the same
time there has been a massive decrease in the numbers of cleaners.

"It is all very well the Government saying that it has got ‘think clean’
programmes in place and that all nurses should wash their hands - something
we agree with - and that patients and visitors should be aware of
cleanliness.

"All that is great, and something the Government should be doing, but they
have also got to grasp the nettle, which they have not done so far, and
actually admit that they have got to increase the number of cleaners on our
wards.

"There just aren’t enough cleaners to keep the hospitals clean."

St John’s Hospital in Livingston has seen MRSA-infection rates tumble by
introducing a new cleaning system which uses everyday disinfectant and
household mops.

Asked if he agreed there was a link between the numbers of cleaners and the
rate of infection, Dr Reid told Today: "Yes, I do."

But he added: "It isn’t as simple as saying that contracted-out services
are bad and in-house cleaning is good, because there is no proven causal
link between contracting-out and MRSA. It’s not just contracting-out that’s
the problem, it is the number of cleaners and the amount of emphasis given
to cleaning.

"The essential thing is to make sure that the number of cleaners and the
methods of cleaning and the command and control of cleaning by nurses is in
place, whether it is in-house or out-house, and that’s what I want to see."

A Scottish Executive spokesman added:

"There is a general trend at NHS boards in Scotland for cleaning contracts
to return in-house, except in cases where there are long-standing external
contracts already in place."


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