By Marjory Inglis, health reporter

HOUSEKEEPERS ON Tayside hospital wards could soon be the latest weapon against MRSA and other superbugs threatening patients.

A top manager at Dundee’s Ninewells Hospital said yesterday people continually called for the return of matrons on the ward but he believed introducing “modern housekeepers” could play an important role in reducing the risk of infection.

“Every ward has a senior charge nurse,” said Brian Main, Ninewells’ site manager. “That is as good as a matron. They are the boss in their ward.

“But it is only fair to say things have changed and maybe, on occasions, these senior charge nurses are focused on more clinical aspects of patient care. Maybe we need to have somebody responsible for the non-nursing, more housekeeping type of things.”

Mr Main said that NHS Tayside was continually looking at ways of better tackling bugs like MRSA. Their procedures were constantly under review and the search for new ways to combat the threat was not purely a response to recent renewed media interest in MRSA.

He said the important thing was to identify potential problem areas and target resources there. Of one thing Mr Main was certain, the blame for MRSA could not be placed on hard-working cleaners. There were many ways the bug could be spread and cleaners were “totally demoralised” by media reports of dirty hospitals.

Microbiologists at Ninewells have consistently supported putting available resources into areas where patients are vulnerable rather than spending money on blanket testing for MRSA.

Searches for MRSA will inevitably find the bug given that a large proportion of the population carry it on their skin or in their nose. It is only when the bug enters the bloodstream through an open wound that it can become dangerous. People with cancer and other conditions that result in a lowered immune system are particularly at risk.

Dundee MSP Shona Robison said yesterday that she had been briefed by hospital management following claims in a Sunday newspaper that MRSA was found in public toilets at Ninewells. She was told that when these areas were re-tested, the results were negative. However, she was aware MRSA was “a stubborn problem” and public areas were “vulnerable.”

A spokesperson for NHS Tayside said, “We can test areas of the hospital at different times of the day and get different results. A door handle that was free from MRSA at 10 am could show signs of the bacteria by 10.15. The amount of traffic coming through our hospitals is phenomenal. Ninewells Hospital can be busier that the High Street on a Saturday.

“What we have to do is look at ways of stopping the spread of bacteria in clinical areas.

“Everyone can help us fight infection in hospitals. Hand hygiene is the single most effective way of avoiding the spread of bugs. The most important thing visitors to the hospital can do is wash and dry their hands before entering any clinical areas.”