Dirty profits hit hospitals

THE GOVERNMENT has launched another ‘initiative’ aimed at improving
standards of hospital cleanliness. They were particularly alarmed at the
publicity about the MRSA ‘superbug’ which infected 300,000 people last year in
Britain’s hospitals and killed 5,000 people.

But the government’s ‘solutions’ concentrate on advice such as telling
nurses to wash their hands regularly. They fail to tackle the biggest problem
of all – far fewer cleaners are now being employed in the health service.

New research by public service union UNISON shows that only 55,000 cleaners
work in NHS hospitals today. In 1984 there were some 100,000 cleaners.

MRSA costs the NHS £1 billion a year as patients who develop
cross-infections have to stay in hospital longer. Even Labour’s health
secretary John Reid can’t deny a link between the massive rise in the number
of dangerous infections being picked up in hospitals and the huge decrease in
the number of cleaning workers.

For over a decade, governments have insisted that cleaning services should
be contracted out to private firms, who make their substantial profits by
cutting the number of employees and paying the remaining workers as little as
possible.

Now while the government bleats about "thinking clean" they insist on
trusting private contractors who are only thinking profits and employ
overworked staff on lower pay and worse conditions.

The government sees the NHS as a business ripe for cost-cutting measures so
Reid rejects UNISON’s call for action on contracting out. But if New Labour
insist on the health service being run by private contractors, their policies
will be seen as bringing death, disease and a colossal waste of resources into
the NHS.