BBC News Online: Health

Hospital hygiene 'risks patients' lives'

The report reveals that doctors and nurses are frequently re-using disposable equipment which has been designed for single use only.

Mike Stone, chairman of the Patients' Association, told the Daily Mail: "This is shoddy and unacceptable. It is the sort of thing you wouldn't expect to be going on even in Third World hospitals.

"Rather than buying equipment, doctors are re-sterilising it. Part of the reason is to save money because the NHS is so under-funded.

"But is it putting patients' lives at risk and it must be stopped."

5,000 deaths a year

The survey was conducted in NHS Trusts around the country with one in 10 infection control officers admitting their hospitals re-used disposable items.

These are frequently not designed to be taken apart and thoroughly sterilised, meaning that doctors cannot be absolutely certain that they are 100% clean.

The findings come despite a government announcement earlier this year that hospital wards would have to meet national standards for hygiene following a National Audit Office report which found that hospital-acquired infections were responsible for up to 5,000 deaths a year at a cost to the NHS of £1bn.

The Department of Health announced on Sunday that £31 million of extra NHS funding is to be pumped into the service this year to improve hygiene levels in hospitals.