Cooties - the New Hospital Superbug

[steepholm]

I must admit I'm a bit baffled by this story, which was the lead on the news this morning. I mean, is this really the thing that people are most concerned about with the NHS? I suppose I can see that a lot of people would rather not have mixed-sex wards (I imagine a lot of them would rather have a room to themselves, in an ideal world), but separate toilets and bathrooms? Since when was that a big issue? It's not as if people are asked to stand next to each other in a communal shower, after all.

Am I missing something? The politicians and their interviewers all seem to be taking it for granted that it's a major disgrace this wasn't done years ago, rather than questioning whether it's as burning an issue as hygiene, queues, unavailable drugs, etc.

Either way, mixed-sex wards are due to be phased out by the end of the year. I wonder how long it will be before the papers report on the first person to die after being turned away from hospital despite beds being available, just because they were the wrong sex? My guess is January 2011.

Comments

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

The ICU staff have special training and skills, so doubling up such wards is wasteful not only in terms of equipment but also in staffing.

Yes, but that's a (perfectly reasonable) argument about resources rather than clinical need.