Surgeons Say Stop Overcrowding

Well its about time some one said it.

Its about time someone pointed out that the Emperor was naked.

That someone appears to be The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

The Healthcare Commission found that 60% of hospitals are still failing on hospital infection rates - in spite of gleaming hands from NHS front line staff - it is obvious that the true causes were not being tackled.

Only in the Stupid NHS would the Healthcare Commission continue to bleat on about clean hands when their own report in Maidstone highlighted other more significant causes.

Thanks to the Royal College of Surgeons for taking a stand.

"The college said good hygiene was not enough and infection would persist if the NHS did not tackle overcrowding and under staffing."

Even the Department of Health guidelines state that there should be less than 82% occupancy on the wards. This means that the beds are cleaned and that bugs are not spread from one patient.

The next time you, or your nearest and dearest is admitted to hospital have a look around the ward. If there are more than ten beds and at least two are not empty then the hospital is not adhering to guidelines.

Managers do not have the any responsibility here - the DH targets actually encourage more patients in bed.

So in a perverse way meeting one target means that we increase hospital infections.

The College said: "There are more factors at play than just handwashing in the transmission of these infections and the public needs better access to this information to make informed choices about where to go for an operation."

Neck Ties don't kill kill people Government Targets do.

Infection control policy in the UK is based on politics and propaganda. The biggest cause of HAI is high hospital bed occupancy, distance between beds and the length of time that the bed is empty.

The Labour government targets have resulted in high bed occupancy, crammed wards and turnover so quick that the bed is still warm from the last punter when the new patient arrives.

Doctors (and particularly microbiologists) who appease the government and abet them by keeping up the pretence to the patients (and voting public) should be ashamed.

The DH policy is absolute rubbish; clearly they are not serious about fighting infections.

Infection control in the UK is a mockery and the doctors who are abetting the government in keeping up the appearances should highlight the real problems.

The Health Care commission in their investigation in Maidstone concluded all of this already and Microbiologists/Infection Control teams know this.

However it is always easier to make people dress like fools then to actually address the problem.

Your average punter is now brainwashed to 'challenge' the doctor if he has not washed his hands.

How about patients Challenging the Cheif Exec about bed occupancy, distance from beds, bed turnover?

If we want to be serious about saving patients lives then we need to stop wasting time with political propaganda and take a serious stand.

Targets kill people not ties.