UK

Crowded NHS hospitals with too few nurses are increasing the risk of bacteria outbreaks and threatening to reverse the progress made by infection control teams in the past 20 years, a charity has warned.

Antibiotic Research UK said the current high rates of bed occupancy at hospitals in the NHS made the spread of bacterial infections more likely. In addition, it claims that staff shortages meant time-pressed nurses could be too busy to spot inadequate levels of cleanliness.

The warning comes in a year where preventing healthcare acquired infections has been made a key improvement area for the NHS. The charity believes that infection control teams have worked really hard since the early 2000s to educate staff about the importance of cleanliness, but that this work is being undone in what the charity’s chief executive, Professor Colin Garner described as, “a dangerous round of cuts that are playing dice with patient safety.”

“Even with the winter crisis and the recent cold snap subsiding, hospital trusts are reporting cases of bed-blocking and overlong stays, and close proximity to other patients enables superbugs to attack,” said Professor Garner. “Patients are also being robbed of their best eyes and ears when it comes to cleanliness.”

The charity said it was now asking patients and visitors to report incidents of inadequate cleaning to hospital complaint bodies like PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Service), which are located in every hospital trust. The charity added that it was important to stay vigilant due to the growing threat of antibiotic resistance.

“Antibiotic resistance is potentially the biggest health problem facing humankind. If not addressed, we could see routine operations cancelled for fear of infection and something as simple as a dirty scratch becoming fatal,” said Professor Garner.

“We need government, medical research organisations, the pharmaceutical industry and the public to work together to develop new but effective medications, fast. And while we wait for that to happen, we must do everything in our power to prevent the spread of bacterial infections – especially in our hospitals,” he added.