Comment: Superbugs, the top NHS challenge

Getting hospital-acquired infections under control continues to be one of the biggest challenges facing the NHS.

The Standard reveals today that the total number of deaths at St George's Hospital in Tooting involving the two superbugs MRSA and Clostridium difficile is higher even than that caused by the C.diff outbreaks at the troubled Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Trust.

At the Kent trust, health watchdogs found that inadequate staffing and too much emphasis on cost-cutting to reduce a big deficit led to the deaths of 90 patients from C.diff over two-and-a-half years. At Tooting, 95 died of C.diff over three years, out of the total of 116 patients whose death involved superbugs.

Like Maidstone, St George's has struggled with a big deficit, escaping from the red only this year. Its chief executive says it is now rated second best in the country for MRSA, though the latest available figures suggest it still faces challenges in dealing with C.diff among elderly patients. The hospital's patients and local community will now want clear evidence that the infection is coming under control.

The figures for St George's are also a reminder that superbug infections continue to be a political problem for the Government. The Prime Minister's offer of a "deep clean" of hospitals has been criticised by experts who point out that the problem is one of poor hygiene among staff, patients and visitors, which cannot be tackled on a one-off basis.

More helpfully, the Chief Medical Officer has called for full disclosure of the infections on death certificates and next year, a new "bare below the elbows" dress code will outlaw doctors' white coats. A new hydrogen peroxide spray could help fight C.diff, which is not killed by the alcohol wipes now widely used.

This is an acute problem for the capital, which has some of Britain's dirtiest hospitals. Management needs to keep hygiene under constant review and, for example, restrict visitor numbers per patient if necessary. Cutting deficits and bringing down waiting lists will not satisfy the public if the basic task of infection control is not carried out properly.

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