After a stream of reports on the superbugs in our public sector hospitals and people flooding to take out private medical insurance to ensure that they can afford a place in a private hospital, we are learning that there is, in fact, no reason for the uncontrolled spread of MRSA with a simple process of testing.
A quick test on new patients for MRSA has helped one hospital cut infections rates by nearly 40% in one year, a recent report in The Times stated.
Doctors at the University College Hospital in London tested more than 18,000 patients when they were admitted during 2006 and found 850 who were carrying the drug-resistant bacterium.
The test, which consisted of taking nasal swabs from patients, could detect the prescence of MRSA in just two hours. Those who were carrying the deadly bacterium were then given an antibacterial bodywash, a nasal ointment and in some instances, antibiotics. Doctors wanted to reduce the risk that MRSA on the skin or in the nose could come into contact with wounds or other patients.
During the year-long trail, MRSA blood-stream infections fell by 38.6 per cent, compared with rates in 2005, and wound infections were reduced by 27.9 per cent.
The team in the British Journal of Surgery say a causal link between the testing and the reduction of infections cannot be proved, but they suggest that the fast processing of the test results could provide an explanation. They also believe that the tests, which cost £11.59 per patient, totalling £302,500 for the whole year, saved the hospital money overall as almost as much was saved through the increased availabilty of beds.
Peter Wilson, consultant micro-biologist at the hospital, who led the study, told the Times: “To win the war on MRSA, hospitals need to consider effective new technologies, such as rapid tests which can help speed the selection of appropriate interventions.”
Until this is MRSA testing is implemented in all NHS hospitals, health insurance companies will still see scores of individuals requesting quotes for private medical insurance and taking up policies which ensure that they can choose their hospital and, hence, do their best to avoid treatment in places where MRSA and other superbugs are rife.