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Health Care-Associated Infections

That is outrageous. The hon. Gentleman is right. Let me explain the process. Whether the contracts were won by the private sector or in house, the cleaning hours fell by two thirds in most cases. The scenario that I painted at the start of one domestic coming on duty at 7.30 am and working till 2 and another working from 4 till 8 was replaced by an individual who worked in four, five or six wards, whether that was privatised or in house. Reference has been made to laundry services. Exactly the same scenario prevailed there. Working as a nurse, I had 12 uniforms. At any given time, four were in use, four were on the way to the laundry, and four were in the laundry. Again, after privatisation, that was cut down. In practice that meant that the majority of nurses started washing their uniforms themselves, adding to the difficulties. In some hospitals the turnover of staff was more than 100 per cent. There was no training for staff coming on duty. There were numerous stories of new people turning up in the morning and working on a ward an hour later. We must remember the politics of the time. The early 1980s was the start of the No Turning Back group, many of whom were advisers to private contractors. What did the Conservatives do? They said that there was no problem, yet in a debate in 1997, my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Andrew Mackinlay) highlighted a report prepared by the Conservatives in 1990. That confidential document stated:"““Infection control costs are always difficult to assess, but there is general agreement that the costs of ignoring strains of EMRSA are higher than those of controlling them, particularly when the costs of potential legal action are included. Litigation by an infected patient is a growing hazard of MRSA outbreaks in hospitals and it is therefore important to demonstrate that well-documented and effective control measures are implemented.””"