New figures are showing that the number of patients who have contracted serious infections whilst in NHS hospitals has almost doubled within two years.

The figures, from the NHS Information Centre, show that the number of people who had a “nosocomial condition”, which is any infection acquired in hospital or another medical environment, stood at 42,712 last year, over a third higher than the 31,447 recorded in the previous year and almost double the 22,448 figure for 2008/09.

A large number of those who contracted these infections, which include MRSA, Clostridium difficile, norovirus and E.coli, were found to be over the age of 75, however the figures were dismissed by the Department of Health, which insists that the NHS has improved in its tackling of hospital infections. It said that there was now mandatory reporting of more hospital infections, so issues were now coming to light when, in the past they would have been swept under the carpet.

Find out what to do if you have been a victim of medical negligence. You might even be entitled to claim compensation.

Joyce Robins, co-director of Patient Concern, called the figures revealing, especially as they contrasted sharply with “propaganda” which claimed that infection rates had dropped sharply. The figures also came out at the same time as the Health Protection Agency revealed that there had been 46 suspected outbreaks of norovirus in hospitals over the past fortnight with over half of these leading to ward closures or admissions restrictions.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8981868/Record-number-of-patients-catch-infections-in-hospitals.html

Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust has paid out compensation to the parents of a four-year-old boy after they failed to remove a breathing tube soon after he was born.

Owen Thomas was just a 10-day-old baby when he was fitted with an endotracheal tube at Stafford Hospital because of breathing problems. However, staff failed to remove the tube and it took a week before he managed to cough it up. His parents, Clare and Kev brought a claim of medical negligence against the NHS trust and were awarded a five-figure sum, though they claim that Owen will only receive about £3,000 in total.

Mrs Thomas said that she had concerns about her son’s health in the first few days of his life but hospital staff assured her there was nothing to worry about. Then, a few days later in the hospital’s specialist care unit, she said that her son had turned blue and was choking when she slapped him on the back and the tube came out.

It is just the latest in a string of negative headlines for Stafford Hospital, which first came to the wider public’s attention two years ago when a Healthcare Commission report said there were 400 more deaths than would be usual at the hospital between 2005 and 2008. An independent inquiry a year later found that patients were routinely neglected at hospitals within the NHS trust.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2064277/Blundering-doctors-left-plastic-feeding-tube-inside-newborn-baby--coughed-10-DAYS-LATER.html

The General Medical Council (GMC) has reacted to the continuing unease about foreign doctors working in the UK by insisting that they undertake a basic training test before starting work for the NHS.

The GMC will run induction courses for those coming to the country from overseas as well as graduates from British medical schools after it claimed that many doctors came over with little or no preparation and with no support to help them adjust to the demands of the job.

The GMC has taken the action in the face of growing criticism to the use of foreign doctors which has continued since 2008 when Dr Daniel Ubani, on his first shift in the UK, and who could speak only limited English, gave a fatal dose of a painkiller to a pensioner. The concern is greater over doctors coming into the country from Europe as EU freedom of movement legislation stops the GMC testing them on their competence or even their language skills.

A new report on medical education and practice within the UK, published by the GMC, states that a third of doctors working in the UK qualified overseas and says that while the organisation still cannot test them for their language ability, they will have to complete an induction programme, which will cover issues such as their bedside manner, confidentiality and the importance of explaining medical diagnoses to patients.

GMC chief executive Niall Dickson, whilst saying there was a lack of support and training for doctors coming to the UK from overseas, admitted that there was real concern over being unable to test incoming doctors for their English language skills.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2038170/Foreign-doctors-trained-work-UK.html

Andy Burnham, the Health Secretary in the last Labour government, is to give evidence to the public inquiry currently ongoing into the failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.

Mr Burnham, who also served as a Minister of State for Health in his time in government, will speak at the inquiry which has been running since last November. It was set up to look into the trust which was accused of providing an “appalling standard of care” and had put targets ahead of patient welfare.

The public inquiry follows a previous, independent inquiry, chaired by the same man, Robert Francis QC, which reported its findings last February and criticised the trust for being pre-occupied with cost cutting at the same time as “routinely neglecting patients”. On the first day of the current inquiry Mr Francis said that its aim would be to look into why the “terrible standard of service” at Stafford Hospital was allowed to continue.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/feedarticle/9832162