Letter from the Prime Minister to NHS staff praising them for their work in bringing about reductions in the rates of hospital acquired infections.
Read the letter:
To all NHS staff
Earlier today the Health Protection Agency published figures showing further dramatic falls in the level of MRSA. The rate of MRSA in our hospitals is now down by more than a third in just the last year, bringing the overall reduction to 57 per cent since 2004.
This means that we can confirm that the NHS has now exceeded its long-standing target to halve the rate of MRSA. The latest published data also shows that numbers of C. difficile infections have fallen by 32 per cent since last year, also a major advance.
This tremendous achievement is down to you, the staff of the NHS, and I wanted to write to thank you on behalf of everyone who relies on the NHS for your efforts over the course of the last year.
These improvements come on top of significant falls in waiting times and they show that when you, the staff, are supported in the right ways you can achieve great things for the people of this country. Never again should we hear the argument that if we want safety in our hospitals we have to be uncaring about waiting times - your efforts have ended that argument once and for all.
Tackling infections and improving safety in our hospitals is one of our highest priorities as a Government. Not only will this huge improvement make the NHS a far safer place to be treated and cared for but I believe that it protects the reputation of one of Britain’s greatest institutions.
Over the course of the last year Alan Johnson has backed you in your efforts to make clean, safe environments for all patients a reality. He has increased funding for infection control staff, put more than £50 million directly into the hands of nurses, introduced a ‘bare below the elbows’ dress code to support hand-washing, provided the money for all our hospitals to carry out a deep clean of their wards and he has brought back matron across the NHS. As I have seen whenever I have visited hospitals around the country, we now have as many as one matron for every two NHS wards and they have been given more say and control over local services and cleaning.
At times these measures have been controversial. I am pleased that they have helped you make the progress that you have. But no-one should be in any doubt that cuts in infections and safer hospitals are ultimately down to the hard-working staff of the NHS. All the measures we have taken have been designed to empower you and without you these huge improvements would not be possible.
Of course this is not the end of the challenge, but the first part of a long-term ambition to make the NHS one of the very safest healthcare services in the world. We know we can still do better on MRSA, tackling variation in those hospitals still struggling to be world-class, and we also know we can go further to reduce rates of C. difficile. So we will continue to listen and continue to look for opportunities to support you throughout next year and beyond.
As Lord Darzi’s review of the NHS made clear, we are now within reach of a truly first-class health care system, the best as well as the fairest in the world. I am clear that achieving it will require us to be serious about change, committed to trusting frontline staff and ready to invest in new services and new ways of delivering services. You can expect nothing less from the Government.
Thank you for your hard work and dedication over the last year. Today’s results should make you proud of your achievements and proud of our NHS.
Gordon Brown
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