Hospital infections

[MargaretR]

A hospital ward in Preston has Norovirus
http://www.lep.co.uk/news/Disease-ou...ard.3445601.jp
Norovirus Introduction - Health encyclopaedia - NHS Direct
This is spread by poor hygiene - again!!!!!

[BERNADETTE]

The last thing you need to be catching when your system is low.

[Bonnyboy]

The Hospital’s denial that anything was amiss is what bothers me. It’s something they obviously would have kept “hush hush” had they been able to control the virus.

[Neil]

At least Lettie knows where she can go and catch it from now, she was after catching it last week.

[firth_dawn]

i agree with that if everyone used the alchohol for their hands when going in and out of the hospital it could help prevent it spreading MRSA.

[Eric]

It's ironic that the doctors and nurses have to be educated in basic procedures of hygiene. I suppose that one excuse is that hospitals, particularly urgent care departments are a little overloaded. It's reassuring to know that Canadian provinces (the delivery of health care is the responsibility of provincial govt., the feds just kick in some money), and that most of them are responding to voter concerns and putting billions more into health care. (For those who are interested, Alberta would like to have about 400, 000 workers in the "skilled" areas ... this includes thousands of jobs in the health care sector ... money is great, and the Rockies are in your backyard.) I do think that we need more research into why certain strains of "bug" are becoming more resistant to drugs. I think it has a lot to do with what we eat. But that is my hobby horse ... so I won't inflict it on anyone else.

[lettie]

Originally Posted by [email protected]

A hospital ward in Preston has Norovirus
http://www.lep.co.uk/news/Disease-ou...ard.3445601.jp
Norovirus Introduction - Health encyclopaedia - NHS Direct
This is spread by poor hygiene - again!!!!!

Actually, Norovirus is often spread by poor hygiene of the sufferer and not necessarily the staff. If you get Noro, then your whole family will get it if you are at home. The vomiting and diarrhoea is so profuse that the bug spreads throughout the environment and atmosphere. Norovirus is often brought into hospitals by visitors (i've seen this happen).
The bathroom would need a complete clean after every toilet use 24/7. The NHS wards don't have cleaners 24/7, one cleaner can be cleaning 3 different wards and obviously can't be everywhere at once. There's nothing that can be done about the bugs in the atmosphere unfortunately. If you have norovirus you often don't realise it at first and blame the sudden diarrhoea on something you ate. it is only after a few toilet trips that patients will tell the staff that there's something wrong, by which time, it's too late as it will have already spread.

I see that the government are after employing 2,500 more hospital matrons in order to help control infections. This will clearly not work.....
It would be more appropriate to employ 5,000 cleaners/support staff. Matrons will be constantly at meetings discussing targets, they don't do any cleaning...

[MargaretR]

There is now yet another bug causing hospital problems
BBC NEWS | Health
look on the right side of this health page for an audio report on-
Pseudomonas - hospital acquired pneumonia

[broadhurst7173]

Originally Posted by [email protected]

In 1980 I had -
(Wikepedia definition)
"Pseudomembranous colitis is an infection of the colon often, but not always, caused by the bacterium Clostridium difficile. Still, the expression "C. diff colitis" is used almost interchangeably with the more proper term of pseudomembranous colitis. The illness is characterized by offensive-smelling diarrhea, fever, and abdominal pain. It can be severe, causing toxic megacolon, or even fatal"

It was caused by an antibiotic named Lincomycin (now banned),prescribed by a doctor in Italy (for a sore throat). I became ill whilst driving through the Brenner pass on the home, and after consulting a doc in Bavaria and a further 2 days resting up in Switzerland, I ended up spending 3 days in a hospital in central France from where I was medically evacuated home.
The whole episode was traumatic in the extreme (though it did have it's humourous moments). On repatriation I spent 2 weeks in isolation at Park Lee hospital.
The long term effects are still with me to some extent. I had diarrheoa for 20 years! I eventually learned to control it to some extent by eating copious amounts of live yogurt daily. In the past year I have found my cure -- Kefir
Kefir - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Antibiotics kill off all the bacteria in the intestines (good and bad bacteria both). We need the good bacteria to maintain a healthy digestive system. Kefir supplies all the good bacteria better than yogurt, and some of Kefir good bacteria attack the bad stuff (yogurt doesnt).
When your digestive system is not functioning properly all sorts of nasty side effects happen - failure to absorb essential nutrients, overgrowth of candida, - which can cause damage to many of your vital organs.
Therefore I recommend that if you are due to be admitted to hospital where you are likely to be exposed to C-difficile that for several weeks beforehand you load you intestines with as much Kefir as you can drink, so loading up with the good bacteria which will combat it.
In USSR hospitals Kefir is in regular use for all inpatients.
Kefir can be produced easily and cheaply at home and costs only the price of the milk. The 'grains' grow during use, so I can divide my grain to give to you if you want to start producing it. - just PM me (1st come 1st served)

unfortunately too late for my brave couragous brother in law, admited to wigan infirmary with a lung abcess, something that in this day and age shouldnt kill you and died on 1st oct this year after a very couragous batle, weight dropped off him constant diarhea etc, when my sister read the notes he had c diff and they didnt have the decency to tell her, thats the most probable cause of death but proving it is a different matter.

[MargaretR]

Ambulances in the North West are not cleaned as a matter of routine. Crews are not alotted time and no cleaners are employed to do it.

BBC NEWS | Health | MRSA 'risk' from dirty ambulances

extract--
Ambulance crews questioned by the union said targets, time and money were all to blame for different cleaning practices between trusts. In the worst example, ambulance crews in the North West have no dedicated cleaning staff or cleaning time.

[MargaretR]

The death rate from C difficile is up - partly due to it being put on the death certificates as an underlying cause of death, whereas before, docs sometimes omitted it.
The true size of the problem is now coming to light.
Todays BBC News-
BBC NEWS | Health | Dramatic rise in C. diff deaths

[jaysay]

Don't know about any body else but not being in great health myself, this problem sure scares the hell out of me, it will have to be something very very serious before i'll let them admit me into hospital. 2 years ago a mate, who I actually met when I was an inpatient at QP about 17 years ago was admited with a very bad chest complaint, he got MRSA nd that was the end for him, now you realise why i'm so scared

[MargaretR]

Red tape preventing Conquest from cutting hospital bugs - Hastings Today - Back to Home Page extract-
A recent study in the medical publication The Lancet showed 40 per cent of C diff infections are spread by hospital bed linen and gowns worn by patients.

Scientists have proved that standard laundry systems do not kill C diff and that it can be returned to hospital beds on apparently bug free sheets and blankets.

There is a laundry system which kills C Diff - it is called Otex, and kills the bug with ozone

But guidelines from the Department of Health, which are based on a piece of legislation from 1969, means the laundry system, called Otex, can only be used on mops and not sheets or other bed linen.


OTEX - Validated Ozone Disinfection

Beaurocracy dictates that higher temperatures than those acheived by the Otex system must be used on hospital linen----- so they can only kill C Diff on mops

[cashman]

dont let it bother me, cos i'm never out of the damn places, was in on tuesday n twice last year, so i take the view if theres owt wrong with me-get it sorted, MRSA n such aint a factor- its when the boss pulls yer clockcard.

[Loz]

This is something that has been going on for years.
My mum died 10 years ago after a routine operation.
She got an infection and died a week later,at the same time another woman on the same ward had a similar operation and also died from an infection.
I'm personally scared that i will be ill enough someday that i need hospital treatment,You never know what state you will come back in if at all.