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Health Care-Associated Infections

The hon. Gentleman has missed the point that I am making. This issue is far more complicated than is often evident in short debates such as this, as we tend to make simplified speeches. Of course we should take note of what happened in the Netherlands, but if we simply transferred everything that was done in that country to the UK, it would not have the same effect, because we are dealing with different strains of MRSA. Some 30 per cent. of us carry Staphylococcus aureus on our body: one third of the Members who will go into the Division Lobbies tonight carry it on their bodies. Some of us even carry resistant strains, but the majority of us are healthy individuals. Staphylococcus aureus acts opportunistically, and targets people with compromised immune systems who are vulnerable to it. Most of us will not be troubled by MRSA. We have to consider why Staphylococcus aureus has become a problem in this country. It is largely to do with the inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics in past decades. People were often given antibiotics almost like sweeties: if someone had a snuffle or a cold, they would be given antibiotics. It was quite wrong to give people antibiotics in those circumstances, as they killed off many of the less damaging strains of Staphylococcus aureus, so that the resistant strains came to the fore and became increasingly prevalent. We must therefore look at prescribing regimes, and hold back from prescribing so many antibiotics. That is as true for C. difficile as it is MRSA. The Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is my local NHS trust. It is responsible for three hospitals, and it pioneered the cleanyourhands initiative. MRSA rates have continued to decline, and the trust's target is one case a month across all three hospitals. The trust has one of the lowest MRSA rates in the country, because it pioneered that initiative, but—and this is a gripe I have with the Government—it was told to reduce that rate by half. Given that it already has one of the lowest rates, the statistics become quirky. If we have two cases a month, one of which might be acquired in the community, not hospital, we will not reach our target. People will report the trust as a failing regime, but in fact the chances of acquiring MRSA in those hospitals is minimal. I pay tribute to the phenomenal work undertaken by those hospitals to bring the rates down. For example, they assume that everyone who is admitted is MRSA-positive unless proven otherwise. Everyone has to undergo an alcohol body wash to decolonise the body of MRSA, and the hospitals will soon progress to nasal decolonisation as well. The cleaning in those hospitals is in-house, and that is welcome. They are considering more innovative ways in which to deal with cleaning to reduce not so much MRSA but other infections. Let me consider C. difficile. Again, I pay tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales hospital, Goole hospital and Scunthorpe district general hospital. They are working hard on C. difficile and putting in place cleaning regimes to tackle the environmental contamination that can occur from the multitude of resistant spores that C. difficile produces. Their work is phenomenal. The right hon. Member for Maidstone and The Weald (Miss Widdecombe) is present, and I emphasise the fact that I do not believe, considering the science behind the subject, that we will ever completely eradicate C. difficile. There are 100 types—I think type 027 causes the problems that we are experiencing in the UK. It produces many toxins, which lead to fatalities. It is so resistant and produces so many spores that I am not sure whether we shall completely eradicate it. However, the work being done to reduce it is welcome. Again, we must stop prescribing so many strong broad-spectrum antibiotics, which destroy the good bacteria in the intestine, thus allowing the production of the toxins. That is a serious problem. I pay tribute to the work in my area to reduce the rates of C. difficile and MRSA—I will not go into detail about pseudomonas or norovirus this afternoon. However, I should like the Government to consider the statistical quirks, which show that one case per month across three hospitals is fine, but two cases mean the red zone. We must reconsider that. It was disheartening for staff to be told that they were in the red zone because there were two cases, as opposed to one, across three hospitals.