§ 13. Dr. Vincent Cable (Twickenham)If he will set minimum cleanliness and hygiene standards in NHS trust hospitals and ensure that these are policed. [127522]
§ The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr. John Hutton)Chief executives are responsible for high standards of cleanliness and hygiene in hospitals. Standards for hospital cleanliness and infection control will be subject to independent inspections by the Commission for Health Improvement and the Audit Commission. NHS Estates has recently distributed guidance on cleanliness to all NHS trusts. The national plan will detail how we can take that forward.
§ Dr. CableDoes the Minister accept that, even in hospitals with a high degree of clinical competence, narrowly defined, there are potential problems of poor hygiene leading to cross-infection? Does he also accept that that can be caused by a combination of private contractors cutting corners, trust managers trying to save money, and the lack of a proper supervisory system involving nurses, as there used to be under the matron system of old? Would not the principles he describes be strengthened by a system of spot checks, carried out by a national inspectorate and backed up by sanctions against offending contractors and hospitals?
§ Mr. HuttonThe hon. Gentleman is obviously right to say that the causes of those problems can be numerous and that a variety of individuals and agencies may be responsible. We regard it as a priority that hygiene standards should be maintained and hospitals should be clean and free from the ever-present risk of infection. It is interesting to note that, whereas the Government are prepared to act on these matters, the hon. Member for Woodspring (Dr. Fox), at a recent conference in Glasgow, criticised Ministers for taking action to improve hospital cleanliness—and, as usual, got himself into something of a mess. I have no doubt that the public want us to ensure that their hospitals are clean and hygienic.
§ Miss Anne McIntosh (Vale of York)Does the Minister agree that the Government should be as responsible for high standards of cleanliness and hygiene as they are for other services that the national health service must provide? For that reason alone, does he agree that the Commission for Health Improvement should be 158 responsible for delivering cleanliness and hygiene in the private and the public sectors to ensure that the same standards apply in both?
§ Mr. HuttonI am not entirely sure that that is the position the Conservative party adopted during the passage of the Care Standards Bill. Perhaps the hon. Lady needs to have a conversation with her Front-Bench colleagues about that. It is important to take effective action to improve standards of cleanliness and hygiene. We are taking that action.
§ Mr. Dale Campbell-Savours (Workington)I believe that there is a real problem. My hon. Friend knows that I have spent time in many hospitals over the past 15 years. It has often struck me that the standard of cleanliness in the toilets of many hospitals worries patients and their visitors. Should there not be a major effort to ensure that the necessary standards are achieved?
§ Mr. HuttonI strongly agree with my hon. Friend. He has much experience of such issues, and I am glad that he looks as well as he does today. We are going to take action to make sure that the issues that he raised are properly addressed. As I said earlier, the national plan, which we shall publish later this summer, will explain the way in which we can take that work forward.