70 deaths on ward of shame: Patients neglected by lazy nurses in a filthy, blood-spattered casualty unit, says damning report

Dozens of patients died needlessly as a result of filthy conditions in an NHS hospital, a shocking report said last night.

Appalling nursing care in Basildon University Hospital contributed to a mortality rate that was more than a third higher than the national average.

At least 70 people may have died who should have been saved.

It is the latest example of patients paying the ultimate price for Labour's failure to stamp out Third World conditions in the NHS - despite trebling taxpayer funding over the past decade.



The Essex hospital is run by one of the supposedly 'elite' foundation trusts, which have greater freedom to manage their finances. Last night there were angry calls for its entire management team to resign.

Unannounced visits by inspectors from the Care Quality Commission found blood spattered on curtains and chairs in the A&E ward, a catheter bag on the floor, poorly-trained nurses and patients treated on trolleys.

A commode was soiled under the seat, nurses were failing to feed frail elderly people and patients had pressure sores.


There was no paediatric nurse for most of the time so children were not getting the best care.

The mortality rate in the A&E ward was 6.1 per cent in 2008, more than a third higher than the national average of 4.4 per cent.

The scandal mirrors what happened at Mid Staffordshire foundation trust - a much bigger trust than Basildon - where 400 people died over three years.

Katherine Murphy of the Patients Association said last night: 'The entire board should most certainly resign.

'If there was one member who had any concerns, they should have been raising them.

'We're sick and tired of NHS managers and senior staff walking away unscathed when families are left with a life sentence of grief.'

Alan Whittle, the trust's £150,000-a-year chief executive, said they were confident of returning conditions to an acceptable standard before the deadline of next Monday set by the Care Quality Commission.

But last night he ignored calls to resign.

'We are deeply disappointed that we were found wanting in three of the 15 measures covered by this inspection,' Mr Whittle said.

'I am confident the actions we, and our cleaning contractor, are taking will return us to compliance by November 30.

'I am also grateful to the CQC for pointing out in its report that our infection rates have fallen year on year and are lower than the majority of similar trusts.'

Trust chairman Michael Large said: 'That Monitor has found us to be in breach of our terms of authorisation as a foundation trust is an extremely serious matter and we do not seek to underestimate its gravity.

'I want to reassure our local community that the safety and well-being of our patients is our highest priority.'

But the CQC, which said 'systemic failings' had led to 'persistently high mortality rates', has ordered in a taskforce from the regulator Monitor to push through improvements, saying it has lost confidence in management's ability to do so.

Monitor has the power to sack trust bosses.

It also emerged last night that the CQC awarded the trust 13 out of 14 points for cleanliness only last year, rating it 'good'. It was only the spot checks last month which uncovered the failings.

Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: 'When the appalling standards of care at Stafford Hospital were revealed we were assured by Labour ministers that it was "an isolated case". That sort of complacency is simply not good enough.

'I am extremely disturbed by this news and the effect that these shocking conditions may have had on patients. It is unforgivable if any lives have been needlessly lost.'

The inspectors carried out their unannounced check on October 8 to 'see the hospital as a patient or visitor would see it'.

They also analysed complaints, from which they learned that many elderly patients had not received help with eating.

In its report, the CQC said its main concerns were persistently high mortality rates, a poor care environment, inadequate arrangements to treat children, poor nursing care, breaches of infection control standards and a lack of leadership at both board and ward level.

Management of the A&E department was poor, with problems including lack of leadership, poor environment and huge delays.

There was no system to ensure staff could observe patients in the waiting room, meaning they could not spot if a patient's condition deteriorated.

Patients had little privacy, with curtains separating cubicles. Some were cared for on trolleys around the edge of the major injuries area and, in busier times, in the centre.

Arrangements for children were also criticised. There were no special areas for children in the major injuries area.

There were few nurses with psychiatric training and no consultant with a paediatric speciality.

The ward spent more time without a paediatric nurse than with one.

Basic nursing care was also ' inconsistent'. Complaints from patients showed nurses failed to monitor, feed and give drugs correctly.

Up to 20 patients in 1,000 had evidence of pressure sores - as against 11 per 1,000 nationally.



Local care homes repeatedly expressed concerns about residents coming back with pressure sores.

It was unclear who was in charge of the nurses, and those meant to be in charge lacked the 'professional maturity' required.

Inspectors also found that the trust was not effectively decontaminating reusable equipment or maintaining a clean and appropriate environment in the A&E department.

They found 11 out of 12 trolley mattresses were stained and two had a 'foul odour'.

It says: 'Nurses we spoke to were not aware that mattresses could be opened and checked.'

Blood pressure cuffs and suction machines for clearing airways were dirty and dusty.

Half the curtains that separated cubicles were soiled, some with blood - and the system for changing them was not working.

CQC chief executive Cynthia Bower said last night: 'The trust has taken our concerns seriously but improvements are simply not happening fast enough.

'We have lost confidence in the management's ability to deliver on commitments and turn the situation around. We have therefore asked Monitor to use its formal powers to kick-start improvement.'

LibDem spokesman Norman Lamb said: 'People have a right to know how on earth a hospital can be rated "good" a few weeks before such serious failings come to light.

'This government has set up a labyrinth of bodies and inspectors which are meant to ensure high quality standards in our hospitals but it simply isn't working.'

Katherine Murphy of the Patients Association said: 'Yet again the regulator's assessment of a hospital has proven to be farcically inaccurate. It is nothing but a tick-box exercise that didn't reveal any of these problems.

'Yet again patients are being neglected. Lack of monitoring, lack of help with feeding, lack of dignity, avoidable pressure sores.

'How many times do the public need to keep hearing about this before the Government is embarrassed enough to do something about it?'

Health minister Mike O'Brien said: 'Patient safety must be a top priority for the NHS and all patients deserve the highest quality of care.

'We expect these issues to be dealt with quickly and effectively to ensure high quality, safe care for patients. Their progress will be closely and rigorously overseen by Monitor.' continues here

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Another cancer drug too dear for Britain: Bowel cancer victims denied life-prolonging care that's free in Europe

Bowel cancer sufferers are to be denied a life-prolonging drug on the NHS which is available to patients across Europe and beyond.

Trials show Avastin can extend life by almost two years.

But the Government's rationing body, Nice, says it is not cost-effective.



In what has been dubbed 'passport prescribing', Britain does not allow routine use of the drug while patients in virtually all other EU countries get the drug paid for.

France, Germany, Italy and Scandinavian nations, as well as Australia and Canada, all meet the cost of treatment.

Last week Nice rejected the use of a liver cancer drug on the NHS.

Around 35,000 Britons develop bowel cancer each year, of which 4,000-5,000 with advanced cancer could benefit from the drug.

Avastin, also known as bevacizumab, costs around £18,000 for a course of ten months' treatment given as intravenous infusion with chemotherapy.

The price is similar to that in other countries.

But the complex formula used by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, which looks at quality of life and overall cost effectiveness, says the annual cost is £36,000.

This breaks the maximum limit set by Nice of £30,000 - a figure which has not changed in ten years despite inflation.

Although the manufacturer Roche devised a subsidy scheme to reduce an original Nice estimate from £62,000 in an attempt to get it approved, this was not good enough.

Nice's decision, which is preliminary, puts Britain in the same category as Latvia, Poland, Albania and Macedonia in not paying for sufferers to use the drug.

Last night patient groups and experts voiced their dismay.

Kate Spall, of the Pamela Northcott Fund, which assists cancer patients denied new therapies, said: 'This is another bad day for cancer patients and another good day for accountants.'

Professor Will Steward, of the Department of Cancer Studies and Molecular Medicine at Leicester University, also said he was disappointed.

'Having Avastin would bring new hope to the many patients for whom this offers a proven increased chance of living longer with a better quality of life,' he said.

Dr Rob Glynne Jones, chief medical adviser of the Bowel Cancer UK charity, called for Nice, the manufacturer and the Department of Health to find a compromise that would allow the drug to be used.

'The clinical efficacy of bevacizumab and its benefit to patients with metastatic colorectal cancer is well proven,' he said.

Patients waiting for a decision on Avastin are forced to plead for special funding from local health bodies or hope that a trial of the drug is running in their area.

Nice, which has been accused of spending more on spin than on evaluating drugs, has often been criticised for banning drugs from NHS use as too expensive.

Last week it decided to reject NHS use of the liver cancer drug Nexavar, which gives patients six months' extra life. The decision is being appealed

It contrasts with the fast-tracking of the breast cancer drug Herceptin after pressure from patients and the intervention of the then Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt.

Ironically, Avastin also treats breast cancer but its use on the NHS is in limbo until the bowel cancer issue is settled.

Last year Professor Mike Richards, the National Cancer Director, called for greater flexibility between Nice and the pharmaceutical industry to make more treatments available to cancer patients.

Bowel cancer patient Barbara Moss, 54, from Worcester, spoke at a Nice review last month about how Avastin had transformed her quality of life.

She was given just five months to live when diagnosed with bowel cancer in November 2006, but is convinced the drug has kept her alive and in remission.

She fought to get back from the NHS almost £14,000 sent on ancillary care, but had to pay £9,000 for the drug itself.

Yesterday she called on Nice to find a way to approve the use of the drug 'so that thousands can benefit from the drug like I did while avoiding financial hardship'.

Avastin works by blocking the blood supply to the tumour, starving it of oxygen and nutrients. Once it has shrunk it can be surgically removed. continues here

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BLINDNESS CURE COULD SAVE SIGHT OF MILLIONS

MILLIONS could be saved from incurable blindness by an injection of human stem cells.

The new and controversial treatment for blindness was hailed last night as “the holy grail” of research into the problem of age-related macular degeneration.

AMD is Britain’s leading cause of blindness, affecting 500,000 people in this country alone. It usually strikes after the age of 50 and about 90 per cent of cases are untreatable

Initially it causes blurred or distorted vision but worsens over time to cause total blindness.

Experts plan to start human trials of the treatment next year, using stem cells taken from spare embryos left over from IVF treatment. The procedure involves a single injection of cells directly into the retina.

Stem cells that are only a few days old can develop into any type of tissue in the body.

It is hoped they could repair damaged eyes.

But the operation will be controversial because many “pro-life” groups are opposed to using human embryos in any kind of medical research.

Scientists argue, however, that the benefits could revolutionise the treatment of many incurable conditions such as Parkinson’s disease.

Cathy Yelf, of the Macular Disease Society, said last night: “Obviously it is extremely interesting and we certainly welcome it very much indeed.

“It is in a way a holy grail because it would enable people to get the therapy that probably holds out most hope for people who have the disease.

"If people can regrow healthy retinal cells then that would be a wonderful thing.”

An American biotech company called Advanced Cell Technology is set to apply for a licence for the trials from the US authorities.

It is already hopeful that human trials using the same treatment for another form of eye disease, Stargardt’s macular degeneration, will begin by March.

This disease causes progressive damage to the central part of the retina, disrupting facial recognition and reading.

The company’s chief scientific officer, Dr Robert Lanza, said it plans to follow this trial with an application to the US Food and Drug Administration to treat AMD.

He said: “We hope to file a second application for age-related macular degeneration within the next few months. I think we’ve put together a pretty convincing case.”

AMD is caused when tissue at the back of the eye becomes clogged with natural waste products which block vital nutrients from passing into the retina.

This leads to the death of retinal cells and eventual blindness in one or both eyes. In “youthful” eyes, enzymes clear away this debris, but as the ageing process sets in, the body’s natural waste-disposal system becomes weak and unable to deal with its workload.

Some people are more at risk than others due to their age and family history, with women and smokers at greatest danger.

Currently there is no effective treatment for “dry” AMD, a less serious form of the disease.

Drugs like Avastin treat the more disabling and aggressive “wet” version but these usually do little more than stabilise the condition.

Barbara McLaughlan, of the Royal National Institute of Blind people, said: “RNIB very much welcomes research into treatments to prevent and possibly cure retinal diseases.

“It is exciting to see that we are getting to the stage when the use of stem cells can be trialled in humans

“A word of caution though. We do not know yet whether this approach will work in people with AMD.

“And if it does we do not know how long it will take for the treatment to become generally available to patients.” continues here

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BREAST CANCER: BREAKTHROUGH IN TUMOUR ENZYMES

SCIENTISTS have discovered a key enzyme that helps make breast cancer tumours bigger and more aggressive.

It is hoped the breakthrough could one day lead to new treatments to stop abnormal cells in breast tissue becoming tumours.

Researchers found that blocking the enzyme lysyl oxidase (LOX) cut the chance of a tumour forming. Those that did develop were smaller and less aggressive, making them easier to treat.

Researchers said LOX was key for turning abnormal but non-malignant breast tissue into tumours, according to a study published online in the journal Cell.

Although the tests were carried out for breast cancer, researchers said it could lead to treatments for many other cancers that have higher LOX levels.

Study co-author Professor Valerie Weaver, of the University of California, said: “We still have a lot more work to do but this is exciting.”

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, with more than 45,500 women diagnosed each year.

Breast cancer numbers have risen by more than 50 per cent in 25 years. The disease kills 12,000 women and 90 men each year.

Dr Laura Bell, of Cancer Research UK, said: “The next steps will be to find out if LOX can be switched off and whether this helps to prevent tumours forming or slows their growth.” continues here

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SWINE FLU JABS 'MUST START NOW'

UP to 70 per cent of the population must start being vaccinated against swine flu now to prevent a winter pandemic, say experts.


Children and at-risk groups should receive the jab first to stop schools and homes from becoming a hotbed for the spread of the virus.

A study in the journal Science says the programme then needs to be rolled out because the virus spreads so easily. It warns that a vaccine, as opposed to antiviral drugs like Tamiflu, should be the first line of defence. The study by US researchers is likely to become relevant to the UK. continues here

NHS failings on cannibal detailed

Two reports are to detail NHS failings over the handling of a schizophrenic killer who killed two more people after release from a secure hospital.

Peter Bryan, 39, of east London, killed a friend and ate parts of his brain in 2004 - two years after being released from Rampton, in Nottinghamshire.

He then went on to kill a patient after being sent to Broadmoor, in Berkshire.

The reports will look at how the risk he posed was assessed and the levels of security under which he was held.

Bryan was first sent to Rampton secure hospital in 1994 after beating 20-year-old shop assistant Nisha Sheth to death with a hammer in a clothes shop in Chelsea, south-west London.

In 2002 he was released after applying to a mental health tribunal and allowed to live as a care in the community out-patient.

He was sent to a hostel where residents have their own front door and room key and could "come in and out as they wish".

Informal patient

After an allegation of an indecent assault on a 16-year-old girl, Bryan was sent back to hospital, but this time he was only an informal patient on an open ward at Newham General Hospital in east London.

In February 2004, he walked out of the unit and killed his friend Brian Cherry, 45, before frying and eating parts of his brain. He had also started to dismember the body.

He was arrested and after appearing in court was sent to another secure hospital, Broadmoor.

Within two months of arriving, Bryan had attacked and killed fellow patient, Richard Loudwell, 59.

In court, he pleaded guilty to killing both men on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

One psychiatrist who interviewed Bryan concluded that he was "probably the most dangerous man he had ever assessed". continues here

NEW LIGHT BULBS 'BAD FOR HEALTH'

THE European ban on 100-watt light bulbs starts today but father-of-five Glynn Hughes is not panic-buying.

The environmental consultant has ­stockpiled 100 which he reckons will last him for at least 15 years.

By that time, he says, experts will accept that Compact Fluorescent Lamps, which use 80 per cent less electricity, are not good for our health.

He says they take too long to warm up, give poor light and are ugly. They also contain mercury, ­making them a health hazard and hard to discard safely.

Campaigners also say the new bulbs trigger migraines, worsen skin problems, cause fatigue, disturbed sleep and depression.

Mr Hughes, 50, from Preston, Lancs, said: “Many people who started using these bulbs have had a range of unexplained symptoms. It is also a matter of human rights. We are entitled to choose.” continues here

Purge of nurses promised after report reveals shocking cruelty suffered by 1m NHS patients

Bad nurses will be purged from the NHS after a report detailed shocking cruelty towards the elderly.

The study by the Patients' Association said up to a million people had suffered poor care over the past five years.

It gave harrowing examples of 'cruel' and 'demeaning' treatment, including patients left lying in soiled bedclothes, having personal alarms confiscated and having to go without food or drink.

The Government's chief nursing officer, Christine Beasley, said nurses who offer very poor levels of care should be struck off the medical register and banned from working in the NHS.

Agony aunt and former nurse Claire Rayner, president of the Patients' Association, said she was 'sickened' by what had happened.

                         Appalling: The report found standards of care at Stafford Hospital appalling

She said: 'We need the professional bodies to be much tougher with their members. They must make it absolutely clear that they will not tolerate poor service, and strike them off the register, which is a very, very powerful thing to do - they can't work again.'

The Daily Mail has highlighted the poor quality of NHS care for many elderly people, in particular the risk of malnutrition because many are not helped to eat.

Critics say too much training takes place in college rather than at the bedside, with the result that too many nurses see helping frail patients as demeaning.

Last year, 210 nurses were struck off the register entirely, 68 were suspended and 126 were cautioned. The number of complaints has soared over the past five years.

But the report stressed that the vast majority of patients are happy with the care they or their families have received on the NHS, with 43 per cent of those questioned describing it as 'excellent'. Only 2 per cent said their care was poor.

Christine Beasley said the shocking stories of cruelty contained in a damning report from the Patients Association were distressing and should make 'sombre reading for the nursing profession'.

The study by the Patients Association revealed how some had been left without food or drink and others forced to sleep in soiled bedclothes.

The charity estimates up to a million patients have experienced poor care from the NHS in recent years.

Ms Beasley said the care offered to some of the patients was 'clearly unacceptable'.

She added: 'They make not only very distressing reading for patients but very sombre reading for the nursing profession.

'I think any nurse that provides that sort of care - or in fact does not provide that sort of care - should be treated very, very seriously and if necessary, if it's at that level, should absolutely be struck off'.

Unveiling the report, Claire Rayner said she was 'sickened' by the deteriorating standards of her former profession.

The agony aunt, who is chairman of the Patients Association, called for bad nurses to be struck off.

The association holds a database of hundreds of stories of patients badly treated by the NHS. The report presents 16 of those in detail.

Among them was 86-year-old Leslie Kirk, who had to endure a 'nightmare of NHS care' after a stroke.

Toilets he used were not cleaned properly and his personal alarm was taken away apparently because he rang it too much.

Meanwhile lung cancer sufferer Colin Purkiss Smith, who was being treated at the Princess Royal University Hospital in Bromley, was forced to soil himself after waiting an hour for help.

Mr Purkiss, who died when he was 62, was unable to eat solid food but was given no alternative at the hospital. Despite having difficulty drinking, he was not offered a straw or a beaker.

The report comes months after the Healthcare Commission found appalling standards of care at Stafford Hospital, which led to between 400 and 1,200 more patients dying than would have been expected in a three-year period.

Katherine Murphy, director of the Patients Association, said similarly bad standards could be found elsewhere.

She called for the health watchdog, the Care Quality Commission, to conduct an 'urgent review of the standards of basic care' in hospital.

'These accounts tell the story of the 2 per cent of patients that consistently rate their care as poor,' she said. 'If this was extrapolated to the whole of the NHS from 2002 to 2008 it would equate to over one million patients.

'Very often these are the most vulnerable elderly and terminally ill patients.'

In a foreword to the report, Mrs Rayner said: 'For far too long now, we have been receiving calls on our helpline from people wanting to talk about the dreadful, neglectful, demeaning, painful and sometimes downright cruel treatment their elderly relatives had experienced at the hands of NHS nurses.'

She added: 'These bad, cruel nurses may be - probably are - a tiny proportion of the nursing work force, but even if they are only 1 or 2 per cent of the whole they should be identified and struck off the register.'

The Daily Mail has highlighted the poor standards of nursing care as part of its Dignity for the Elderly campaign.

Dr Peter Carter, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said the vast majority of nurses were 'decent, highly skilled individuals'.

Chief Nursing Officer for the Department fo Health, Chris Beasley, said: 'All patients deserve the highest quality of care from the NHS and the poor care received in these cases is simply unacceptable.

'Where care falls below expected standards, this can be distressing for the patients concerned and their families and we expect trusts to take immediate action to investigate and ensure this does not happen again. Patients and their families — and indeed staff — should feel able to raise this with the hospital management. continues here

Diary of despair of pensioner who died in 'zoo' hospital after 'catalogue of blunders by staff'

A horrifying journal of the neglect a great-grandmother suffered in hospital has been published by her family.

Betty Dunn, 79, was admitted with a routine stomach problem but died six weeks later after a string of medical errors.

During this time her relatives compiled the diary detailing her ordeal in a ward they grimly nicknamed the 'zoo'.

The dossier tells how Mrs Dunn was:
Given medication containing penicillin - despite warnings that she was allergic to it;

Forced to sleep on a bare mattress;

Made to wait 40 minutes for a bedpan;

Treated by staff who could barely speak English;

Made to eat a food substitute against medical advice.

At one stage, the mother- of-four's children became so desperate that they called the police for help but were told nothing could be done.

In a final insult, the news that Mrs Dunn was dying was broken to her daughters in a busy corridor in front of other visitors.

The wartime Land Girl was being treated on a mixed-sex ward divided into bays at Tameside Hospital, in Ashton-under-Lyne, near Manchester. Labour had pledged to scrap this type of patient accommodation in 'The ward where mum was treated was like a zoo, and we called it that afterwards,' said her daughter, Liz Degnen, 49, today.

'It was manic and chaotic with people running around like headless chickens.'We could see there were other patients not being cared for. We tried to communicate with the staff but some of them couldn't even speak English'

'It doesn't matter if you're 79, 29, or 109, the way the hospital treated her was disgraceful. Every aspect of her care was just terrible. The staff did their best but there were not enough of them to cope. It's a scandal that hospitals can operate like this in this day and age.'

Mrs Dunn, a former dinner lady from Gamesley, near Glossop in Derbyshire, was admitted to Tameside on January 4 with complications from a stomach bug.

'On the night she was admitted for treatment mum was waving and blowing kisses and saying "See you, love",' said Mrs Degnen, a teaching assistant.

'Yet when we left for a few hours we came back to find herslumped across a bedside trolley. Her eyes were at the back of her head, rolling about.'

Her children responded by keeping a round-the- clock vigil and documenting the care she was given.



They noted that one nurse even refused to change a faulty drip because she was about to go off duty.

A few days later came the mix-up over the penicillin. 'At this point we were in tears,' one of the sisters wrote in the diary.

'Mum had yet again missed another dose, this was the final straw.' Mrs Degnen said yesterday: 'We didn't feel like they were listening to us. They were making blunder after blunder in our face.

'We could see there were other patients not being cared for. We tried to communicate with the staff but some of them couldn't even speak English'

Mrs Dunn's condition appeared to stabilise but on January 21 her family were told she had contracted C. diff.continues here

And don’t they tell us that the NHS would collapse without them, that on this issue at least nationalism is wrong, yet this is not the first case and in my own personal life I know of another “Sprightly” pensioner dying in similar circumstance ,such sorrow it caused and will forever do. These proud people forced to seek help through age and illness, this generation that “made do”, that “got on with things”, that survived that unnecessary war only to die so appallingly. Not for them though, not for the politicians, not for the elites, no, only for us, we the playthings of so many forces.

Its understandable of course, place so many disparate people within a given landmass and disease is the result, already a work-colleague is at home with “swine flu”, whilst another nurses her eight year-old son through it ,here the outbreak spreads unstoppably again no-one cares. I write this prior to work, rushed, yet upon leaving my house I place myself at risk of this disease and indeed others, can they not see just what they do to us, can they not, this is no fun experiment now, this is an attack upon the indigenous peoples and I pray that one day justice will be served.

We never asked for this, this experiment, everything known advises against such a policy and still they persist ,what is it they hate so much, what did we ever do, do be so attacked, denied our birthright and in some case our health. When one considers all of the medical advances, the so-called modernity of medicine, then why are they killing us, why are they treating us so bad and when will it stop. Immigration permits the spread of disease, it allows it entrance and places we all at risk, borders are there for a reason, that is their invent, why it is modern so-called politicians, go against traditional human culture, one can only guess. However, financial reward, office and ideology can be the only reason and on that basis it is akin to physical attack, to knowingly place others at risk, we must be mad to permit this.

City 'cannot contain swine flu'

Health officials in Birmingham say the spread of swine flu in the city can no longer be contained.

Fifty-five new cases have been confirmed in the West Midlands region taking the total to 567 - more than half of the total cases in England.

The city council's health scrutiny committee was told officials want to move to "mitigating" the outbreak.

Sean Connolly, the city's director of resources, said the Department of Health was listening to its concerns.

'Different response'

He said: "Containment is too late in Birmingham. We are planning for the mitigation phase."

Under the containment policy all those people who may potentially have come into contact with an infected individual are offered anti-viral drugs.

The aim is effectively to isolate the virus, allowing no opportunity for it to spread further.

But once cases become too frequent to contain, drugs are only given to those people, such as family members, who are at significant risk of infection.

It is also thought that health officials will now rely for an initial diagnosis on GPs rather than waiting for confirmation by laboratory test results.

Mr Connolly said he would "like to proceed" to a policy of mitigation.

"The Department of Health is listening to what we are saying. I would be very surprised if the DoH didn't look at our circumstances and use a different response."

There are currently 1,582 confirmed cases of swine flu in the UK.

Health officials have blamed the extent of the virus in the West Midlands on an outbreak at Welford Primary School, Handsworth, Birmingham.

It shut in May with nearly 200 people connected to the school diagnosed with the virus although it has since reopened. continues here

Amid swine flu outbreak, racism goes viral

“No contact anywhere with an illegal alien!” conservative talk show host Michael Savage advised his U.S. listeners this week on how to avoid the swine flu. “And that starts in the restaurants" where he said, you “don’t know if they wipe their behinds with their hands!”

And Thursday, Boston talk radio host Jay Severin was suspended after calling Mexican immigrants "criminalians" during a discussion of swine flu and saying that emergency rooms had become "essentially condos for Mexicans."

That’s tepid compared to some of the xenophobic reactions spreading like an emerging virus across the Internet. “This disgusting blight is because MEXICANS ARE PIGS!” an anonymous poster ranted on the “prison planet” forum, part of radio host and columnist Alex Jones’ Web site.

There is even talk of conspiracy. Savage speculated that terrorists are using Mexican immigrants as walking germ warfare weapons. “It would be easy,” he said, “to bring an altered virus into Mexico, put it in the general population, and have them march across the border.”

As more than 140 cases of H1N1 virus, known as swine flu, have been confirmed across the United States — from San Diego to New York City — the growing public health concern has also exposed fear and hate.

Fear and blame are counterproductive and even dangerous in any disease outbreak because the more stigmatized any group feels, the more reluctant people in that group may be to seek medical care. That only helps propagate the disease.

The attempt to scapegoat Mexicans, immigrants and Hispanic Americans is no surprise to Latino rights groups, who are now mobilizing a countereffort.

‘Ignorant beyond the pale’
Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, called such comments “racist and ignorant beyond the pale … these so-called commentators shame themselves turning public health concerns into an immigrant bashing fest.”

“What we have seen is that the anti-immigrant groups are using this to shamelessly to promote their agenda,” said Liany Arroyo, director of the Institute for Hispanic Health at the National Council of La Raza.

While the war of words is mainly between the conservative commentariat and Latino advocacy groups, individual Mexican-Americas are beginning to worry.

“Our people are calling us and they are concerned,” said Florencia Velasco Fortner, chief executive officer of Dallas Consilio of Hispanic Organizations, an umbrella of affiliated service groups. “Even our staff members are starting to get a little discouraged. There was anti-immigrant sentiment prior to this and this adds fuel to the fire.”

The Consilio has mounted its own education campaign to teach Dallas-area Hispanic audiences proper disease prevention and hygiene techniques. Because many are uninsured and may avoid seeking medical care, the Consilio is also helping them find non-profit clinics and encouraging them to visit these immediately if they develop symptoms rather than waiting until they are severely ill.

As swine flu fears have spread, the backlash has also affected some Mexican restaurants’ business, possibly fueled by disparaging comments like those of Savage questioning the hygiene of workers.

Jennifer Pesqueira, whose family has owned and operated El Indio Mexican restaurants in San Diego since 1940, said her business has seen a 20 percent drop in business since the outbreak began.

Activist groups have advised their communities to be aware and on guard. “Board members put an alert out,” said Jan Hanvik, executive director of Clemente Soto Velez Cultural and Educational Center in New York. “It was a heads up, saying ‘pay attention.’ ”

Blaming ‘the other’
Fearmongering and blame are almost a natural part of infectious disease epidemics, experts say.

“This is a pattern we see again and again,” said Amy Fairchild, chair of sociomedical sciences at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health in New York City. “It’s ‘the other,’ the group not seen as part of the nation, the one who threatens it in some way that gets blamed for the disease.”

Often, a disease outbreak is an excuse to vent pre-existing prejudices. “It’s fear of people we do not know or who look different,” said Dr. Howard Markel, a medical historian at the University of Michigan and author of “When Germs Travel: Six Major Epidemics That Have Invaded America Since 1900 and the Fears They Have Unleashed.” “You take the fear of the unknown that already exists and then combine that with a real or perceived threat that is contagious disease and it’s explosive.”

During the medieval Black Plague, Europeans blamed Jews, saying they poisoned the wells. In an 1892 cholera pandemic, the U.S. blamed immigrant European Jews. In the flu of 1918, Markel said, “Italians blamed the Spanish. The Spanish blamed the Italians. For HIV it was gay men and Haitians.”

Americans “have a history of trying to keep ourselves ‘pure,’ ” Fairchild explained. “You saw it after the Civil War when slaves were denied citizenship, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when we were alarmed over southern and eastern European immigrants. There were fears that they would pollute America’s germ plasm, make us a weak nation of imbeciles.”

Americans have time and again responded to emergencies by clamoring to shut the borders and pull up the bridges.

“I’ve blogged for years about the spread of contagious diseases from around the world into the U.S. as a result of uncontrolled immigration,” conservative columnist Michelle Malkin wrote on her Web site. “9/11 didn’t convince the open-borders zealots to put down their race cards and confront reality. Maybe the threat of their sons or daughters contracting a deadly virus spread from south of the border to their Manhattan prep schools will.” (The cluster of New York school students who first contracted H1N1 brought the virus back from Mexico. The school is in Queens.)

“People who do not really know anything are creating ideas that don’t really exist,” said Sergio Ornelas, owner of a bi-national publishing and advertising business in El Paso. “I am worried these kinds of articles and comments might create panic.”

Fighting racism with information
Blame-the-victim reactions can be fought with clear, accurate information about the disease and about how it is spreading, said Dr. Larry Kline, a San Diego physician and member of the United States-Mexico Border Health Commission. “People get snippets of information here and there, and unfortunately much of it is inaccurate. That makes things ripe for blame and blame and fear never helped anybody.”

Tamping down blame and fear isn’t just the right thing to do morally, experts agree, it’s also the right thing to do medically. Germs, Markel stressed, don’t care about skin color or national origins or borders. continues here

What's in a name? Governments debate 'swine flu' versus 'Mexican' flu

• Israeli minister concerned over sensitivities to pork
• Mexican ambassador complains about alternative

With governments around the world struggling to find the appropriate response to the new flu danger, it might be assumed that they had more important things on their mind than what to call the virus. Not so.

Trouble began yesterday when a health minister in Israel raised an objection to "swine flu" on the grounds of Jewish and Muslim sensitivities over pork. Yakov Litzman, a member of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, came up with his own alternative: "Mexican flu."

That had the advantage of sparing Jews and Muslims discomfort. It had the disadvantage, however, of causing Mexicans even greater discomfort.

Mexico's ambassador to Israel, Frederico Salas, was duly dispatched to register an official complaint over the suggestion. The move prompted a hurried retraction from the Israeli government, which insisted it had no intention of changing the name.

If the virus is not, after all, to mutate into "Mexican flu", what then is it to be called? Swine flu looks likely to hold for the time being, though as it changes and spreads its connection to pigs will become increasingly tenuous.  continues here

GP TREATS FOREIGNERS BUT NOT MY DAUGHTER

A FATHER told of his shock last night that he couldn’t register his family with his GP surgery – because staff there need to devote extra time to non-­English-speaking patients.

Christopher Dowsett, 22, wanted to enrol partner Amy, 18, and their one-year-old daughter Lily at the surgery near his home in Sheffield.

Mr Dowsett was already a patient and when Amy and Lily moved from Doncaster to live with him he went to register them at the surgery in the Firth Park area of the city.

His daughter was due to have her MMR vaccinations but the couple were told they could not be registered as the surgery’s new-patient list was closed.

A letter from the surgery listed the reasons – including an increase in non-English speaking patients who “require additional time and resources to ensure they receive the high level of service to which all of our patients have the right”.

According to official figures the number of Asian families in the area is four times the average for the whole city.

Mr Dowsett said: “I want my family to be registered at the same place as me but to just be told ‘no’ is disgraceful.”

Practice manager, Julian

Stevens, refused to comment but a notice in the surgery tells visitors its books are closed.

According to official figures the number of Asian families in the area is four times the average for the whole city.

However, the closure of the list has not been approved by the Sheffield Primary Care Trust, which said it would be working with the surgery to ensure it remains open to new patients.

A spokeswoman for NHS Sheffield apologised and said there were other difficulties at the surgery, not just the issue of the numbers of foreign patients, that were causing problems.

She said there had been problems following the alleged murder of one of its former GPs, Dr Colin Shawcross, 58. Two other GPs at the surgery are off sick, placing extra strain on the practice. continues here

SHILPA'S RACE ROW LINKED TO CANCER

EXPERTS believe Jade’s public humiliation over the Big Brother race row could have led to her developing cervical cancer. 

Jade suffered a miscarriage and admitted herself into a rehabilitation clinic after she was accused of the racist bullying of 31-year-old Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty on Celebrity Big Brother two years ago. 

Now research has suggested that women under extreme stress are more at risk of developing the disease. 

Scientists in America found that stressed women had a weaker immune response to the HPV virus that causes the majority of cervical cancer cases. 

Last year Dr Carolyn Fang, of the Fox Chase Cancer Centre in Philadelphia, carried out a study into why some women appeared able to “clear” the virus from their bodies. 

In other cases it led to a persistent infection which raises the risk of the abnormal cell changes which can eventually lead to cancer. 

Women with abnormal smear test results were asked to fill in a questionnaire about their day-to-day stresses over the previous month along with major events such as bereavements or divorce over a longer period. 

The researchers found that the immune response was poorer among women who reported higher levels of day-to-day stress. 

Dr Fang said: “Women with higher levels of perceived stress were more likely to have an impaired immune response to HPV16.  continues here