Are hospitals dangerous?

A special commission into hospital health and hygiene has reported that “hospitals are as dangerous as mines and factories”.

Five out of 25 recommendations made by the SARS Commission in Canada were implemented after it was stated “serious problems persist and much remains to be done”. ……. “if we do not learn from SARS and we don’t make the Government fix the problem, we will pay a terrible price in the next pandemic” said Ontario Judge Archie Campbell.

“With our own hospitals being an excellent model of cleanliness and hygiene where nobody ever picks up infections, we have nothing to worry about in the UK” said Edith Maskell of Bromley Health Management (tongue in cheek!)

(Source : The Lancet, 2007; 36: 264)

And ….. They say they can’t guarantee the safety of our children
According to a new report by the Healthcare Commission, most hospitals in the UK can not guarantee the safety of the children in their care.  

It found that ¾’s of all hospitals were poorly equipped to deal with emergency care, nearly 1:5 couldn’t provide life support for children and half are not able to provide adequate training in child protection.  Finally, most doctors in out- patient units admitted that they knew little about pain relief for children.

“Save our children from the perils of being in hospital when they’re sick” said Edith Maskell of Bromley Health Management.

Source : The Guardian, February 28 2007)

Monday, 9 April 2007