Mary Graham

It is one year since a hospital hygiene scandal shocked the country.

On October 11 last year the Healthcare Commission revealed that 90 people had died during C-diff outbreaks at hospitals in Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells.

The Healthcare Commission’s report contained not only shocking statistics of the victims, but horrendous anecdotal evidence of failures by the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust.

It found that C-diff was “definitely” or “probably” the main cause of death for 90 people between April 2004 and September 2006. There were 1,176 cases of C-diff in the same period.

The report said nurses were so rushed that they told patients to “go to toilet in your bed” and found patients would often be left in soiled bedsheets.

Pictures released by the Healthcare Commission showed dirty sinks and showers and beds placed so close together the infection was allowed to run riot.

The trust’s former management was heavily criticised for missing the first outbreak of C-diff in 2005 and was slow to react to a second outbreak in 2006.

Commission investigators branded former chief executive Rose Gibb, who quit days before the publication of the report, as “autocratic.”

One year on and those now in charge of the trust say it is a changed organisation.

In the immediate aftermath of the report a new chief executive and interim chairman took over. Many former directors and board members, criticised for not doing more to prevent the infection spreading, have now gone.

Health secretary Alan Johnson singled the trust out for scathing criticism, but in November visited Maidstone Hospital to announce the government’s deep cleaning programme for all hospitals in the UK.

Today, the trust has a dedicated C-diff isolation ward and has a detailed plan for dealing with infections.

Accessibility to hand basins and alcohol gel has improved, and the use of antibiotics, which can make people more susceptible to the killer superbug, has been reviewed.

More nursing staff are being recruited to end shortages on the wards.