Other Cases:

Symphysiotomy

We provide support to a group of women who underwent this procedure. There are approximately 150 women in this group from all over the country. This is a group facilitated by Patient Focus.
Many of them suffer from serious side-effects of this operation. Many are in terrible pain and feel very angry that this operation was performed on them when a Caesarean Section should have been done instead. They never received a proper explanation about the procedure and the possible side-effects, in fact some of them were never told that they had the procedure and only found out many years later. Many of them did not consent to having this procedure.

Lourdes Hospital Inquiry

The Inquiry considered many submissions and interviewed a wide range of Medical and Nursing staff, Management, GPs, Members of regulatory and training bodies, patients and others. Almost 320 interviews with 280 witnesses were conducted.

The facts uncovered by the Inquiry revealed that any isolated institution which fails to have in place a process of outcome review by peers and benchmark comparators can produce similar scandals as those which occurred in the Lourdes Hospital.

The MRSA Virus

MRSA infections occur mostly in hospitals and healthcare facilities, with a higher incident rate in nursing homes or long-term care facilities. Rates of MRSA infection are also increased in hospitalised patients who are treated with quinolones. Healthcare provider to patient transfer is common, especially when healthcare providers move from patient to patient without performing necessary handwashing techniques between patients. However, it should be noted that MRSA can cause infections outside of hospitals as well.

What is MRSA?
The term MRSA or methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus is used to describe an organism that is resistant to commonly used antibiotics. If the organism is on the skin then it can be passed around by physical contact. If the organism is in the nose or is associated with the lungs rather than the skin then it may be passed around by droplet spread from the mouth and nose.
We can find out if and where MRSA is located by taking various swabs from a person and carrying out tests to decide how sensitive the organism is to antibiotics and if it is a methicillin resistant (MRSA) organism. These test usually take 2-3 days.

Can MRSA Be Treated?
Due to the overuse of antibiotics over many years this bacteria has evolved to be resistant to Methicillin - which is a benchmark antibiotic. This was never actually used in its original form.
Its equivalent in use today is Oxacillin. Antibiotics which will deal effectively with this bug are now limited, research continues looking for an antibiotic that can fight this bug.

Who Can Get MRSA?
MRSA does not respect age. A new born baby had become infected with it from the umbilical cord when it was cut. MRSA infections most often occur in patients in hospitals and are rarely seen among the general public. As with ordinary strains of Staphylococcus aureus, some patients harbour MRSA on their skin or nose without harm (such patients are said to be ‘colonised’), whereas other patients may develop infections.
Some patients are at increased risk of developing infection. They include those with breaks in their skin due to wounds (including those caused by surgery), indwelling catheters or burns, and those with certain types of deficiency in their immune system, such as low numbers of white cells in their blood.

How do we prevent the spread of MRSA?
Measures to prevent the spread of organisms from one person to another are called infection control. The spread of MRSA can be greatly reduced by caring for someone in isolation. Another major factor in the spread of MRSA is hand washing. Hand washing will reduce the rate of transmission by one third or 33%.

DO’S AND DON’T’S IN HOSPITAL

DO
• If there is dust or dirt around or under your bed, ask for the area to be cleaned.
• Wash with bactericidal before visiting, or admission to, hospital.
• Watch the staff with regard to yourself especially hand washing.
• Ensure that toilets are clean before using them.

DON’T
• Get too close to other patients.
• “Put up” with soreness or discomfort.
• Use tissues more than once.

Do Healthcare workers wash their hands?
A recent study showed that healthcare workers only washed their hands at a rate of 51%. However, very real reasons exist for this low rate such as busyness and provision of hand washing agents that cause redness and irritation to the skin. When a convenient, user friendly, effective hand washing agent was provided, compliance rose to 83%.
We need to address this issue nationally and decide on a hand washing agent that is microbiologically effective, kind to skin and convenient to use. This will have an immediate knock on effect on the rate of bugs such as MRSA being transferred from one person to another.

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