'Dirty Ambulances' May Spread MRSA

Ambulances may be aiding the spread of hospital-based infections such as MRSA because they are not being cleaned properly, a union has claimed.

The investigation by Unison found wide variations in cleaning practices at ambulance trusts across the UK and said that poor cleaning arrangements and a lack of resources were contributing to the problem.

Unison said that ambulance crews questioned during the survey said that targets, time and money pressures all contributed to the differences in cleaning practices.

However, the London Ambulance Service was praised for its approach to tackling the problem. The service has introduced on-site cleaners who work nights in order to routinely carry out deep cleans of the entire fleet. They also re-stocked ambulances with fresh kit, so that ambulance crews do not have to carry out the additional task.

Sam Oestreicher, Unison's national officers for ambulance staff, said: "The government recently announced extra money for deep cleaning hospitals, but ambulances seem to have been forgotten."

He said that, in many trusts, ambulance crews were responsible for cleaning their own vehicles and said that this was a waste of both their time and training.

Health Minister Ben Bradshaw said that the available evidence suggested that ambulances were not a major source of spreading infections, but stressed that tackling the spread of hospital-based infections was an NHS-wide issue.

Mr Bradshaw added that the Ambulance Service Association had issued guidance and that the government expected trusts to follow it.

(KMcA)