27 May 2005
Tough new measures to combat health care-acquired infections such as MRSA should help staff do their job, not provide a new stick with which to beat them, the NHS Confederation said this week.
On May 24, Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt unveiled details of the Health Improvement and Protection Bill, which includes sanctions such as criminal proceedings being brought against senior managers of trusts that fail to meet strict hygiene standards.
The Healthcare Commission would police the hygiene code and hand out improvement notices to trusts that fail. These would include action to be taken and the timescale in which it must be done. Failure to meet the deadline could result in cases being referred to the health secretary, or Monitor if a foundation trust were involved. These could sack managers or, in extreme cases, launch criminal proceedings against them.
NHS Confederation chief executive Gill Morgan said that while she welcomed the measures, too much attention was being paid to finger-pointing and whipping up hysteria over MRSA.
'Our politicians have a duty to stop the scaremongering because right now people who need surgery are afraid of the very thing that will make them better. Everyone in the health service – managers, doctors and nurses alike – goes into the job because they want to make a difference. The Bill should help them do their job better, not instil a simplistic blame culture over such a multi-layered problem.'
The Department of Health said it would consult on the issue of criminal charges this summer.
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