There doesn't seem much to choose from between the parties on health issues. The Tories blame Blair because Mrs Bloggs in Northampton (or wherever) catches an MRSA infection and promise to give matrons the power to close wards. The fact that the power to close wards already exists seems to have escaped them but they succumb to the big government trap of thinking that doing anything centrally is better than letting people get on with their jobs. Meanwhile Labour announces health initiative No 4129 offering detailed guidance on handwashing from the Minister of Health.
Both major parties appear to think that MRSA is about cleanliness, even though 30% of the population carry it on their skin. MRSA is a bacterium which is resistant to most antibiotics. It gained that resistance because we have for the past 50 years used antibiotics for everything from colds and flu (viral infections on which antibiotics have no impact) to fattening cattle. And now we are surprised that resistant strains have emerged? Feh!
Surprisingly one move by Labour may in the end offer a way forward. The creation of Foundation hospitals is the first sign of a possible return to local management and control. Of course in their usual inimitable style they have managed to hugely over complicate the process but even so local control of hospitals - and much else - is no bad thing.
