Public Health 2007: smoking bans? Absolutely! Hospital hygiene? Don’t count on it.
Do you believe that Public Health has so well and permanently solved the basic problems of hygiene and good medical care in the Western world that it needs to go in search of "causes" such as second-hand smoke in order to justify its paycheques? Time to think again.
The socialised Public Health system in Britain is now embroiled in a true scandal following revelations that filthy conditions at several hospitals may have been responsible for over 1,000 dangerous patient infections and the deaths of at least 90 in the last few years.
One hospital head has already been removed from her post, and an investigation continues as to the possible laying of criminal charges over the deaths and disease. The neglect of even the most rudimentary procedures of hygiene was reportedly the result of efforts to keep hospital budgets under control.
Details of the extent of the problem – considering that this has happened in a leading Western country in the twenty-first century – are truly shocking:
‘The commission found "significant failings" in infection control at three hospitals run by the trust between April 2004 and September last year, including unwashed bedpans, a lack of isolation units, beds being spaced far less than the recommended 3.6 metres apart to stop the spread of infection and nurses telling some patients with diarrhoea to "go in their beds". Pictures taken as recently as February disclosed continuing hygiene concerns.’
Failure of staff to use gloves, wash hands and properly clean commodes were among the other problems cited in reports into the conditions at these hospitals.
Care to bet smoking restrictions were sternly enforced? Easy money, that.
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