Welcome For Planned Blitz on Hospital Hygiene Standards

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 4th Jun 2007

Sandy Walkington, Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for St Albans, has welcomed today's announcement by the independent Healthcare Commission that it is to go into 120 NHS trusts unannounced in the next year to check cleanliness standards and infection control procedures.

"I hope West Hertfordshire Hospital Trust is high on their list," Sandy said, "and that the checks will be genuinely random and unannounced."

"It is too late for St Albans resident Maria Kelly who contracted Clostridium Difficile (C. Diff) in Hemel Hempstead Hospital following a routine operation, but other residents will want the reassurance that such random spot checks will bring.

"Healthcare Commission figures show that cases of C. Diff are on the rise nationally, and that West Herts Trust has had more cases over the last 12 months than any other hospital trust in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. Given those figures, I hope West Herts is high on the Healthcare Commission radar," Sandy said.

"We have to have the reassurance that the right management structures and infection control teams are in place in our local hospitals. Everyone visiting friends and relatives in local hospitals can also help here, simply by being alert to whether toilets are clean, gels and soap and water are universally available and that all staff are adhering to good hygiene standards. If they are not available, they should challenge ward staff and demand better.

"People go into hospital to be cured, not to be killed because basic procedures are wanting. It may well be that West Herts has got a grip since the death of Maria Kelly. The continuing regular publication of figures for infections by the Healthcare Commission will give us information on progress being made. I am sad that we need the threat of external inspection of this kind to give local residents confidence in our local hospitals, but no-one deserves the undignified death endured by Maria Kelly and we must have maximum confidence that effective infection control procedures are in place."

ENDS

For further information please call Sandy Walkington on 07802 177317

Note to Editors:

In the first ever 12 month survey of rates of superbug infection, West Hertfordshire Hospitals had 620 cases of C. Diff among patients over the age of 65. This was the largest number reported of any of the hospital trusts in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.

For more information on today's Healthcare Commission announcement, see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6712603.stm