I WAS in the Beatson Hospital in Glasgow last week to visit a friend with acute leukaemia.
There is a sophisticated automatic interlock door system controlling access to the ward.
There is a bottle of hand gel in the interlock area but no requirement to use it.
The ward houses patients with compromised immune systems as a result of their course of therapy. Any infection for these patients could well be fatal. Yet basic hygiene steps are not taken to prevent dangerous pathogens being introduced to the ward.
There was a major outbreak of C-diff infection at the Vale of Leven Hospital in 2007/8. Thirty-four people died as a result. Nicola Sturgeon, the then Health Secretary, delayed the inquiry by five years.
The McLean Report into the outbreak cost the taxpayer £10 million. Senior counsel on both sides were limited to £8,000 a week in expenses. There were 75 recommendations in the McLean Report, only one of which suggested better hand hygiene entering a hospital ward. This was a mere suggestion.
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are a major health problem today. There are large posters warning of the dangers of MRSA in hospitals around the country but no effective action is being taken.
Hand gels alone do not solve the problem but they are an important first step. The cost is minimal. Otherwise we must spend billions of pounds developing more effective antibiotics to deal with the resistant bacterial strains we have selected by
overuse of the available antibiotics. The use of hand gels must be made mandatory.
Dr John A Black,
Former Professor of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, Oregon,
6 Woodhollow House, Helensburgh.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel