Re: Trust may be prosecuted after hospital bug outbreak kills 33

[Guest guest]

this just really scares the crap out of me. I wanted to go to the

hospital the other night but I cant deside whats more scary, a bad

mcs attack or a bad

hospital.

>

> 24 July 2006 22:56 Home > News > UK > Health Medical

>

> Trust may be prosecuted after hospital bug outbreak kills 33

>

> By nce, Health Editor

> Published: 25 July 2006

>

> http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article1195258.ece

>

> An NHS trust may be prosecuted for negligence after a lethal

> hospital bug killed at least 33 patients and infected 334 over two

> years.

>

> A damning report into two outbreaks ofClostridium difficile at

Stoke

> Mandeville Hospital, Buckinghamshire, severely criticised managers

> for repeatedly ignoring warnings from infection-control

specialists.

>

> They failed to follow advice from doctors, nurses and the Health

> Protection Agency (HPA) on stopping infection because

> they " mistakenly prioritised " other objectives such as hitting

> government targets and curbing spending, the report said. The

> Healthcare Commission, which carried out the inquiry, yesterday

> ordered every NHS hospital in England to review infection control

> procedures urgently in light of the findings.

>

> National figures, published yesterday by the HPA, show cases of C.

> difficile infection rose 17.2 per cent to 51,690 in 2005. Six out

of

> 10 NHS trusts saw their infection rate rise last year.

>

> The Department of Health said the chief medical officer and chief

> nursing officer would review the inquiry report and consider how

the

> recommendations should be implemented across the country " because

of

> its wider application to the health service " .

>

> The inquiry has already claimed the heads of three senior managers

> at Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Stoke Mandeville

> and two other hospitals. Ruth on, the chief executive, and

> Croisdale-Appleby, the chairman, resigned last week.

> Kirk, the medical director who was also responsible for infection

> control at the hospital, will leave in a few months, the trust said

> yesterday.

>

> Owing to the number of deaths and the failure of management, the

> Healthcare Commission has for the first time sent its report to the

> Health and Safety Executive, which has the power to prosecute

> organisations under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

>

> , the chief executive of the Healthcare Commission,

> said: " There is a question whether there are prosecuting powers

> which should be looked at in relation to this case. "

>

> The report into Stoke Mandeville, which suffered the worst outbreak

> of C. difficile in the country, said it was a " tragedy " which could

> have been avoided. Lessons from the first outbreak, which lasted

> from October 2003 to June 2004, affecting 174 patients and causing

> 16 deaths, were not learnt before a second outbreak from October

> 2004 to June 2005 claimed another 17 lives.

>

> The key factor was a failure to isolate infected patients but

> inadequate cleaning, lack of hand-washing facilities and poor state

> of wards contributed. Even after the second outbreak, when

> inspectors returned in December last year, they found faeces on bed

> rails, pubic hairs in baths, mould and cobwebs around showers and

> soiled commodes.

>

> Ms said: " There were serious management failures ... They

did

> not apply the lessons from the first outbreak until pressure came

> from outside led by The Independent. "

>

> She denied waiting time targets were to blame, saying all managers

> had to deal with conflicting priorities.

>

> But the report records a meeting at the hospital on 24 March 2005

at

> which the director of operations told a consultant in infection

> control who raised concerns about C. difficile that targets must be

> met " whatever the cost " . In the foreword to the report, Sir Ian

> Kennedy, the commission's chairman, says: " Senior managers

> concentrated too much on one responsibility - meeting targets for

> waiting times. "

>

> Lidington, Tory MP for Aylesbury, said: " What runs all

through

> this report is that managers were putting central targets ahead of

> anything. "

>

> Andy Burnham, the health minister, said powers in the new Health

Act

> would be used to deal with NHS trusts that failed to follow good

> practice in controlling infections.

>

> Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust has been given 60 days by the

> Healthcare Commission to " improve patient safety " . Alan Bedford,

the

> acting chief executive, said infection rates from January to June

> were down by 80 per cent on the same period last year.

>

> * Cases of MRSA fell slightly in 2005 to 7,087 but it was too early

> to say they were on a downward trend, the Health Protection Agency

> said. They were falling too slowly to reach the government target

of

> a 50 per cent reduction by 2008.

>

> 'Independent' report prompted inquiry

>

> A two-line e-mail arrived at The Independent in June 2005. It said

> there had been an outbreak of a new strain of Clostridium Difficile

> at Stoke Mandeville hospital with a death rate that was higher than

> normal.

>

> Everyone knew about MRSA but few had heard of C Difficile. Yet it

is

> the commonest cause of diarrhoea in hospitals and causes more than

> 2,000 deaths a year, twice as many as MRSA . It chiefly affects the

> elderly and cases had been rising for a decade, from fewer than

> 10,000 in the mid 1990s to more than 50,000 last year.

>

> Eight days after The Independent revealed the outbreak at Stoke

> Mandeville on its front page on 6 June 2005, above,

Hewitt,

> the Health Secretary ordered an inquiry by the Healthcare

> Commission. Yesterday's report says that managers at the hospital,

> who had ignored warnings about the infection, only responded under

> outside pressure. " It took the involvement of the Department of

> Health and national publicity to change their perspective, " it

said.

>

> The report leaves unanswered the question of whether other trusts

> may be taking similar risks. Professor Borriello, the

director

> of the Centre for Infections at the Health Protection Agency, said

> he could not rule out the possibility that the situation at Stoke

> Mandeville was being repeated elsewhere.

>

> An NHS trust may be prosecuted for negligence after a lethal

> hospital bug killed at least 33 patients and infected 334 over two

> years.

>

> A damning report into two outbreaks ofClostridium difficile at

Stoke

> Mandeville Hospital, Buckinghamshire, severely criticised managers

> for repeatedly ignoring warnings from infection-control

specialists.

>

> They failed to follow advice from doctors, nurses and the Health

> Protection Agency (HPA) on stopping infection because

> they " mistakenly prioritised " other objectives such as hitting

> government targets and curbing spending, the report said. The

> Healthcare Commission, which carried out the inquiry, yesterday

> ordered every NHS hospital in England to review infection control

> procedures urgently in light of the findings.

>

> National figures, published yesterday by the HPA, show cases of C.

> difficile infection rose 17.2 per cent to 51,690 in 2005. Six out

of

> 10 NHS trusts saw their infection rate rise last year.

>

> The Department of Health said the chief medical officer and chief

> nursing officer would review the inquiry report and consider how

the

> recommendations should be implemented across the country " because

of

> its wider application to the health service " .

>

> The inquiry has already claimed the heads of three senior managers

> at Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Stoke Mandeville

> and two other hospitals. Ruth on, the chief executive, and

> Croisdale-Appleby, the chairman, resigned last week.

> Kirk, the medical director who was also responsible for infection

> control at the hospital, will leave in a few months, the trust said

> yesterday.

>

> Owing to the number of deaths and the failure of management, the

> Healthcare Commission has for the first time sent its report to the

> Health and Safety Executive, which has the power to prosecute

> organisations under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

>

> , the chief executive of the Healthcare Commission,

> said: " There is a question whether there are prosecuting powers

> which should be looked at in relation to this case. "

>

> The report into Stoke Mandeville, which suffered the worst outbreak

> of C. difficile in the country, said it was a " tragedy " which could

> have been avoided. Lessons from the first outbreak, which lasted

> from October 2003 to June 2004, affecting 174 patients and causing

> 16 deaths, were not learnt before a second outbreak from October

> 2004 to June 2005 claimed another 17 lives.

>

> The key factor was a failure to isolate infected patients but

> inadequate cleaning, lack of hand-washing facilities and poor state

> of wards contributed. Even after the second outbreak, when

> inspectors returned in December last year, they found faeces on bed

> rails, pubic hairs in baths, mould and cobwebs around showers and

> soiled commodes.

>

> Ms said: " There were serious management failures ... They

did

> not apply the lessons from the first outbreak until pressure came

> from outside led by The Independent. "

> She denied waiting time targets were to blame, saying all managers

> had to deal with conflicting priorities.

>

> But the report records a meeting at the hospital on 24 March 2005

at

> which the director of operations told a consultant in infection

> control who raised concerns about C. difficile that targets must be

> met " whatever the cost " . In the foreword to the report, Sir Ian

> Kennedy, the commission's chairman, says: " Senior managers

> concentrated too much on one responsibility - meeting targets for

> waiting times. "

>

> Lidington, Tory MP for Aylesbury, said: " What runs all

through

> this report is that managers were putting central targets ahead of

> anything. "

>

> Andy Burnham, the health minister, said powers in the new Health

Act

> would be used to deal with NHS trusts that failed to follow good

> practice in controlling infections.

>

> Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust has been given 60 days by the

> Healthcare Commission to " improve patient safety " . Alan Bedford,

the

> acting chief executive, said infection rates from January to June

> were down by 80 per cent on the same period last year.

>

> * Cases of MRSA fell slightly in 2005 to 7,087 but it was too early

> to say they were on a downward trend, the Health Protection Agency

> said. They were falling too slowly to reach the government target

of

> a 50 per cent reduction by 2008.

>

> 'Independent' report prompted inquiry

>

> A two-line e-mail arrived at The Independent in June 2005. It said

> there had been an outbreak of a new strain of Clostridium Difficile

> at Stoke Mandeville hospital with a death rate that was higher than

> normal.

>

> Everyone knew about MRSA but few had heard of C Difficile. Yet it

is

> the commonest cause of diarrhoea in hospitals and causes more than

> 2,000 deaths a year, twice as many as MRSA . It chiefly affects the

> elderly and cases had been rising for a decade, from fewer than

> 10,000 in the mid 1990s to more than 50,000 last year.

>

> Eight days after The Independent revealed the outbreak at Stoke

> Mandeville on its front page on 6 June 2005, above,

Hewitt,

> the Health Secretary ordered an inquiry by the Healthcare

> Commission. Yesterday's report says that managers at the hospital,

> who had ignored warnings about the infection, only responded under

> outside pressure. " It took the involvement of the Department of

> Health and national publicity to change their perspective, " it

said.

>

> The report leaves unanswered the question of whether other trusts

> may be taking similar risks. Professor Borriello, the

director

> of the Centre for Infections at the Health Protection Agency, said

> he could not rule out the possibility that the situation at Stoke

> Mandeville was being repeated elsewhere.

>