NHS hospitals that outsource cleaning ‘linked with higher rates of MRSA’
New research shows that NHS hospitals that employ private cleaners are associated with a higher incidence of MRSA, a 'superbug' that causes life-threatening infection and has previously been linked with a lack of cleanliness. The superbug is becoming increasingly difficult to treat. As from 2005, trusts have been required to regularly report incidents of MRSA, which has enabled researchers to produce empirical evidence for the first time that compares the rates of infection in hospitals that outsource cleaning with those using in-house cleaners. They calculate that, on average, the incidence of MRSA infection between 2005 and 2009 was 2.28 in every 100,000 bed days in trusts that outsourced their cleaning, compared with 1.46 bed days in trusts that used in-house cleaners '.a difference of almost 50 per cent. However, the research also highlights that trusts which used outsourced cleaners did save money. Their cleaning costs were lower by around by around £236 per bed per year compared with hospitals that used in-house staff, according to the paper published in the journal, Social Science and Medicine . The research was conducted by the University of Oxford, with the London School of Economics and Political Science, and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
