Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Philip Davies (Conservative). It was answered on Tuesday, 13 November 2007 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Hospital Cleanliness

Question: Given the importance of tackling hospital-acquired infections, perhaps the Secretary of State will explain why it has taken the Government 10 years to come up with a rigorous cleaning programme, say how many fewer cases of MRSA we can expect in our hospitals as a result of the initiative, so that we can test whether it has been successful, and say how deep cleaning compares with using environmental cleansing equipment, such as Steris's vaporised hydrogen peroxide equipment, to tackle the disease.

Answer: The deep clean is one of a series of initiatives. The issue is the subject of huge public concern. We are the only country in the world that has mandatory comprehensive surveillance, and the only country in the world that knows exactly what the situation is with our health care-acquired infections. As a result, we are able to tackle the issue through a series of measures—not just through the deep clean, but through the ““bare below the elbows”” policy, which has been used at the Royal Marsden hospital for many years, just as deep cleans have been used in many hospitals for many years. It is a case of ensuring that every hospital follows best practice. There are other initiatives, of course, such as the new powers that we are giving the care quality commission—an issue that we will discuss in the debate on the Gracious Speech. There is pre-screening for MRSA for all people coming into hospital, whether for elective or emergency surgery. There is a whole series of other measures, which means that we have a comprehensive programme to address the problem, which affects all countries around the world.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 467 c522
Session: 2007-08
Oral question type: 1st Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Commons chamber
Subjects: Hospitals Infectious diseases MRSA Cleaning services Finance Training
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk