Everyone is entitled to their own opinion,. however i fail to see how the responsibility of cleanliness can be solely on the chief executive. Hundreds of people visit hospitals on a daily basis, increasing the risk of infections, it is not the responsibility of the chief executive to ensure that EVERY person in a hospital is following basic hygiene rules. All a chief exec can do is emphasize the importance of it, they can not possibly be everywhere at once making sure people are washing their hands at every opportunity.
I think people should look into the facts rather than throwing accusations!

Emily , Kent,

Sadly, today the NHS is run for the benefit of its employee's and not the patients.
We employ nurses with totally useless BA(Hons) degrees, who believe it is beneath their dignity to become involved with the patients: additionally, they are overpaid for what they actually do - which is precious little. Furthermore, a case arose recently in our local hospital where a 'specialist' agency nurse was paid £1000.00 for a single 8 hour shift during the Christmas period.
What we really need if matters are to improve are REAL nurses, NOT face-painted prima-donnas!

Desmond, Barnstaple, Devon

Charges should be brought from the Chief Executive down to Senior management level. More than 90 people lost their lives as a result of managerial incompetence.

Weversend, Harrogate,

This is appaling. But it is also what happens when you let people schooled in management lingo and spin running hospitals. Let doctors run hospitals - and to hell with the bean counters and lawyers who have turned the setup into a mess.

Then - let hospitals hire and train their own cleaning staff, pay them decently and let them work with the epidemiologists. Give them the time to clean the premises properly each day and forget about stop-watch targets.

It has been done before - and it worked.

And finally: Ban the use of anti-biotics as a growth enhancer in the agricultural sector.

Victor, Berlin, Germany

It appears necessary to take action against hospital managers as the current situation must be addressed and it likely that the possibility of criminal prosecution will stop such neglect of basic hygiene on the wards

Dr Howard Bloom, Charlwood Surrey,

It is obvious that breaches of contracts have occurred throughout the NHS, from the lowly student nurse to the Trust Director. Perhaps a few jail sentences or being struck off for dereliction of duty and taking money (salaries) under false pretenses might perk them up a bit.
My mother, an ex nurse was appalled by ward standards when she went in for a routine op recently. It was only when I mentioned in a loud voice that Sister could hear that I knew a good solicitor for suing the hospital that standards suddenly improved.

Finn, Aberdeen,

edmund i do agree with your comments apart from the option of (b) we do pay for it through taxation unfortunatly it's the privatisation that has involved the over allocation of needless managers and pen pushers who do nothing but produce graphs and charts to try and validate there existance.

Get rid of the cash gobbling managers and get bacl to the number one priority? Patient care...

K. Weddell, Edinburgh, UK

I hope that Rose Gibb is prevented from enjoying her immoral pay-off by enjoying a substantial period of imprisonment.

Howard, Milton Keynes, UK

Why are people surprised? - around 30,000 people a year die unnecessarily in our hospitals every year now. That's why I wrote my book "Who cares?" to try and warn the public about the catastrophe hapening due to mismanagement in almost all of our hospitals.

Author: "Who cares?"

amanda steane, bedworth, coventry

When I was a child, during and shortly after WWII, if people wanted to set a standard by which they judged that a house was immaculately clean, they said: "It's like a hospital."

It appears that times have changed, and the ideal of cleanliness is not what it was. But since the survival of all of us, through a reliable health service, depends in part on putting this right, we must (a) demand it and (b) be prepared to pay for it through taxation.

Edmund Burke, Kingston upon Thames, England

I'm amazed at the coverage which excuses the behaviour of carers and cleaners on the basis that they were not trained properly and were not told that ensuring people had clean toilet facilities and were given bed pans in time was a priority. Has the world gone mad? it is never right to treat people this way. In the private sector you could lose your job for this type of behaviour and definitely the hospital would not be running in a competitive market . However it is deemed acceptable in the state system and we make excuses for people telling people that they can lie in their own urine and faeces.

Gillian, Stocksfield, Northumberland

Follow the Dutch example and you will see this bug almost disapear. But it costs, so spending in the proper places is paramount. More wards more staff... problem solved.

drew phillips, hudds, w/yorks

Surely the responsibility for this lies with the government? For the last ten years they have told us again and again of their achievements in health, and here we are the end result is vulnerable people being forced to suffer in this way. Multi-billion mismanagement of taxpayers money!

Trefor, Bracknell, Berks

My partners elderly mother caught C-Diff in Bristol Hospital and was then told she was clear, to get her out of hospital and into a private nursing home, where it was immediately confirmed that she was stiff suffering from the superbug. She died two weeks later. Basically I call this manslaughter, as she was slung out of hospital to die privately in some rip-off private nursing home.
This is going on all the time across the country and is tantamount to mass manslaughter and must be stopped. It's outrageous, in the extreme and from what I can gather has been happening for at least two years and as many as 40,000 people have died like this.

Peter Tytler, South Molton, Devon

This is absolutely appalling, what sort of people allow this to happen, even the most junior staff member could prevent this, or do they live in similar conditions.
The NHS have people checking people, then more checkers in the Health commissions checking them. Why does someone put a STOP to all the 'it wasn't me syndrom' and treat people as they would like to be treated.
Alan Johnson - show some of that Northern Background of yours - and tell these managers what you want and make them accountable when things don't happen.

Bryn Proctor, Wakefield, UK

This bug is rampant in all hospitals.
I recently visited my mother in hospital where she had an operation on her right femur. When I saw her it was obvious that she had contracted some bug and had acute diarrhoea. Despite washing my hands after visiting her, I contracted this bug and spent most of my time either in bed or in the bathroom. On contacting the hospital and reporting I had contracted the bug in hospital they were in self-denial .

Louis Blanc, Liverpool, UK

Alan Johnson - Minister - said this morning to John Humphries that all patients would in future be screened for MRSA on entry to hospital.
I say:
Why not screen all NHS staff?

the answer :

So many of them are carriers that the result of screening would be that the NHS would not be able to function if they were sent home.

N Reed, Truro, UK

This situation is absolutely scandalous. I was booked to have surgery next month. But I was utterly appalled by the lack of basic hygine when I visited the hospital (in a suburb of London) where the operation was due to be carried out. I have now made arrangements to have the procedure done at a hospital in Belgium instead. The quality of healthcare and hospital hygene over there is first class. It makes the NHS hospital look like something out of the Crimean War by comparison. My op is covered by the NHS on a reciprocal agreement with Belgium. I would urge anyone in a similar situation as me to do the same.

Joe, East London, UK

I can't imagine a more shameful dereliction of duty than telling a sick person to "go in their bed". It does not make the slightest difference if it is easier for the nurses. Patients are first and foremost human beings and have the right to maintain some privacy and personal pride however sick they are.

Rosie, Upminster,