David Burrowes MP

Conservative Party | Enfield Southgate

David Burrowes MP has today expressed his disappointment at the Government’s failure to address head-on the problem of Clostridium Difficile, which is becoming endemic in our hospital wards.

A recent report by the Healthcare Commission into the tragedies in Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust has shown that of 1170 patients affected with the bug, 90 of these died.

Widespread criticism has been issued into the failure of hospitals in catching the bug in time, with many deaths perceived as preventable.

In the light of this, David Burrowes comments: “What particularly concerns me is that under current Government plans for hospital reconfigurations, attention is diverted from the best health care provision.”

The Healthcare Commission found, in the case of Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells, that: “Both trusts had undergone difficult mergers, were preoccupied with finances and had a demanding agenda for reconfiguration and private finance initiative (PFI), all of which consumed much management time and effort.”

David has pointed out that: “this is simply not good enough. In my constituency, Enfield Southgate, we are facing the same problems of distracting, government imposed agendas. This serves as a timely warning to Chase Farm Hospital about the dangers of taking your eye off the ball.”

David also added “In January I initiated the first debate in parliament on the subject of C. Diff on behalf of my constituent Graziella Kontkowski, who formed the C Diff support group in response to the death of her mother. I   warned the Government to take urgent action and recognise that C Diff is the most debilitating and prevalent superbug. The Government has failed to heed the warnings and I have now requested an urgent meeting with the Health Secretary to meet me and Mrs Kontkowski to respond to these concerns.