SEEMS the message is not getting across to staff about hygiene at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.
A grieving woman whose grandad died of the Clostridium difficile bug is appalled at some of the lax incidents she witnessed.
Perfunctory hand washing and bodily fluids mopped from the floors with only tissues are among the examples she saw.
Let’s be clear here, this was happening at a time when NHS bosses were being hauled over the coals for failings which allowed the same bug to thrive at Maidstone Hospital in Kent.
A shocking 90 deaths were linked to outbreaks at the hospital.
So you think that staff at HRI would have taken note and been a bit more careful.
We do not know how pressured they were at the time – perhaps it is evidence that all the talking and all the policies in the world will not make one jot of difference if staff on the ground are over-worked.
Whatever the root problem, there are too many bug-ridden hospitals that sometimes make patients more ill than they were when first admitted.
It is one of the biggest crises in the health service
Behind all the discussion of targets, lies a fact that can all too easily be forgotten – that patients are genuinely frightened of catching a superbug in hospital.
Extra vigilance is required from all those who work at or visit our hospitals, to ensure that this terrible bug does not spread or claim any more victims.
