Paul Clements disagrees with Sir Richard Branson about the best way to tackle MRSA in hospitals.

Sir Richard Branson's plan to tackle MRSA will come to grief
article in the Telegraph, written by Paul Clements

Extract:

"Unless you ensure everyone who enters a hospital is clear of Staphylococcus aureus, Branson’s plan is all but meaningless.

The cheapest and simplest solution remains good hygiene – by the cleaning staff, nurses and visitors alike. Spread by contact with contaminated skin and unclean surfaces, poor sanitary procedures ensure that MRSA is a menace to the NHS.

Unless both staff and visitors are made to wear plastic gowns when at a patient’s bedside and to rub their hands with alcohol gel before and after a visit – the bacteria will thrive.

Earlier this month, I was back in an A&E ward, sat for six hours with a neighbour who had collapsed in his bathroom. Of the dozen or so staff who came to check up on him, only one used the alcohol rub before or after they had examined him. There was dried blood on the ward floor, next to scraps of unbinned surgical waste.

Rather than taking staff out of the NHS to have them disinfected, Sir Richard might do better to suggest putting in more who know their way around a mop and bucket. Either that, or start a whistleblower’s phoneline."

(Sir Richard Branson accuses politicians of failing over hospital superbugs
article in the Telegraph)