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Curbs on hospital visits to beat superbugs
Amy Iggulden, Health Correspondent23.10.07
Visiting times could be restricted at a major London hospital as part of a drive to cut superbug infections.
St George's Healthcare NHS Trust in Tooting wants to limit visitors to stop the spread of germs and make cleaning and managing mealtimes easier.
It comes only days after the trust slipped from "good" to "fair" in a survey on service quality in the annual report by the Healthcare Commission, the national health watchdog.
The commission criticised St George's for failing standards on infection control. The trust was among the one in four to be criticised. The issue hit the headlines after at least 90 patients were found to have died due to the bug Clostridium difficile at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells trust.
Bosses at St George's say they are on target to cut hospital bug rates after creating an infection taskforce and screening all elective surgery patients for MRSA.
A poll of more than 700 staff showed they wanted to limit visiting hours to between 3pm and 8pm. Only two visitors would be allowed per bed. The changes would not apply to wards for children or the elderly. One hundred patients will be asked whether the plan should go ahead.
A trust spokesman said: "By standardising visiting hours, we can make scheduling mealtimes easier, minimise interruptions to patient care and rest and improve cleaning."
London trusts are battling to reduce MRSA cases to a rate of under two per month. St George's has 2.57 cases per 10,000 bed days. The national average is 1.5 cases per 10,000 bed days. It also recorded 33 cases of C.difficile in August.
Its chief executive, David Astley, said the Healthcare Commission score did not reflect recent work. "Since last year we have seen a huge improvement in reducing infection rates," he said.
Michael Summers of the Patients Association said: "We must not be too restrictive because patients rely on friends and family."
Reader views (2)
Well, well, how amazing! When I was nursing at St George's 30 years ago we had visiting hours - no one was allowed to visit in the mornings for obvious reasons - things like washing patients, making beds (with clean linen every day I might add!) taking observations, ward cleaning and doctors rounds were of far more importance than allowing all and sundry to walk round the ward all morning. There was a visiting period between 3pm and 4pm (to allow patients to have a quiet sleep after lunch - oh, that, by the way, helps recovery!) and another between the hours of 7pm and 9pm when a bell would ring and everyone was asked to leave promptly so that the patients could be toileted - that means washed by the way - (oh yes, we did that at the end of the day as well!) followed by more observations before the night staff came on to do the drug round and hand out warm drinks before lights out. So, in short, there is nothing new in this and why, oh why it's taken so long to go back to square one to avoid needless infections beats me. Incidentally, the elderly and children were always allowed opening visiting hours for obvious reasons too!
- P.O., London, UK
This is the most filthy hospital it was ever my misfortune to visit. Filthy toilets dirty linen stacked in corridors all quite shocking. My mother nearly died in this place; if I ever was careless enough to take ill in the vicinity I would try and drag myself over to another area. The place is a disgrace from top to bottom and restricting visitors is just a tiny part of what needs to be done.
- Cherry, London
