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Edwina Currie condemns North West Hospitals
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Edwina Currie the former Minister for Health and patron of mrsa Action has accused North West Hospitals of failing on C.Diff standards. Speaking at a recent Manchester Based ,GovToday, Reducing HCAI’s Conference in London, Currie addressed delegates to discuss the implications MRSA has had on members of the Public. Speaking passionately about a number of cases in which deaths had occurred from MRSA, Currie pointed to recent regional figures which showed clearly that the North West is failing on reducing C.Diff.
Addressing delegates Currie said;
“You can clearly see that the North West is failing to reduce the number of cases. The figures are so stark, and must worry people from the North West. Why is it the North West is still twice as high as the North East when the Government is saying that all regions, including the North West, have reduced the number of cases of C.Diff in the past twelve months?”
In a passionate speech, the former Minister talked about the victims of C.Diff and how she felt they had been let down by Hospitals who “should ensure patients are treated with the highest standards and not faced with the fear of contracting such a deadly infection”.
Referring to the North West again, Currie went on to condemn the overuse of antibiotics in hospitals and communities across the region, saying;
“Is antibiotic usage too wide spread in the north west? I would put money on it! Let me guess that cleanliness is also a problem in one or two hospitals in the North West”
A number of delegates left the Conference in anger at Currie’s comments with one delegate suggesting that Currie was “simply here to cause some controversy and raise the profile of her charity.”
However, Currie, known for her controversy, later commented on her speech saying. “The figures clearly demonstrated that the North West is failing on mrsa and cdif, you must remember this is my region. I am not here to cause controversy, but one thing is apparent and that is the Boards within North West Hospitals are clearly not listening or acting fast enough to reduce the number of cases. “
Maria Cann - http://mrsaactionuk.net
Commented 86 weeks ago
Edwina gave a very moving talk that reflected what had happened to seven people and their families. We were contacted after the event and received very positive feedback, “you could hear a pin drop” we were told when Edwina gave the case studies. The figures that were quoted and caused the angry response were factual. Clostridium difficile is an awful illness, people lose their dignity from the symptoms, the consequences of the illness can be fatal. The North West does have the highest numbers of cases, and has the highest number per head of population. We were criticised for highlighting this, but I believe that those who thought it was wrong could help by rallying to spread the good practice in their hospitals into the wider healthcare community. Two thirds of the cases can be found in the community. Judicious use of antibiotics and raising public awareness about the risks involved in taking broad spectrum antibiotics is needed. That point was made. It would be good if those who have conquered the problem in the region could come together to share their success strategies with health and social care providers in the North West region so that we can all fight this together.