Maggot treatment 'could save NHS billions'

 Add your view

Maggots were used 80 years ago to clean wounds

Using maggots to eat the dead flesh on wounds could help prevent the spread of MRSA and save the NHS millions of pounds, according to MPs.

In a parliamentary motion, 35 MPs from all parties backed a call for doctors to use fly larvae to treat patients' wounds.

They said maggots take only five days to clean a wound compared to 89 with traditional treatment, meaning hospital beds would become free more quickly.

Maggots were commonly used in hospitals right from medieval times down to the beginning of the last century, when they were phased out with the introduction of antibiotics. Maggots only eat dead flesh and leave healthy tissue intact.

The MPs claimed that the use of maggots would help ward off superbugs like MRSA, which is spreading as a result of the over-reliance on antibiotics. If wounds are healed more quickly, patients are less likely to catch MRSA.

The motion, proposed by Madeleine Moon, Labour MP for Bridgend, said £3 billion was spent treating 650,000 ulcers in the UK each year.

The motion said: "Effective debridement, or removal of necrotic (rotting) material from the wound is a key element in preparing a wound for treatment.

"Tests imply that it takes an average of 89 days' treatment to achieve complete debridement of all wounds."

However, average cleaning times for maggots is only five days, the motion states. So-called 'sterile maggots' eat the dead flesh from the wounds and kill bacteria.

They are an "accepted and valuable resource" and have already been used to treat 30,000 patients on the NHS, the MPs say.

"Such treatment therefore has the potential to save the NHS between £15 and £30 million is used on only 10 to 20 per cent of wounds.."

The MPs call on the Department of Health to "encourage NHS trusts to examine how dressings containing sterile maggots or free-range maggots can be utilised to clean wounds, reduce treatment times and improve outcomes for patients."

The Department of Health declined to comment. Cell biologist Dr Stephen Britland from Bradford University said: "Maggot therapy is now used in several locations in the UK and across Europe. They are used to clean the wound, after which they are removed."

 

What's on today   What's on tomorrow

Receive our newsletter