Whiter than white

Heard on the news this morning: doctors are to be forbidden from wearing white coats as part of new rules being introduced by the Health Minister to try to curb the spread of infections like MRSA and c.difficile in hospitals. The Minister's comment was something like "the cuffs of long white coats could become infected."

What utter codswallop.

Yet another headline-grabbing move from this bankrupt government that will be forgotten as soon as the ink is dry on the newsprint, and one that will make not one jot of difference to infection rates in hospitals. Doctors have been wearing white coats for a hundred years or more. Why then did we not have massive rates of cross-contamination in the 50s, 60s and 70s? The simplest explanations are always the best: because the wards were kept clean by dedicated cleaners who took pride in their work, rather than agency staff who are paid a pittance, inadequately instructed or supervised, and content to sit on their backsides all shift having given each toilet bowl, sink and floor a cursory wipe with the same grubby cloth.

And moreover, each ward was kept under the watchful eye of a matron who let nothing get in the way of maintaining standards.

Let's have more attention to the simple, boring but essential details of running health care in this country, and less concentration on stupid initiatives that give the minister some air time in the media but do nothing to help either the overburdened NHS staff, or the patients at risk of coming out of hospital in a worse condition than they went in.