The long term increase, on the other hand, is due to a combination of excessive use of broad-spectrum antibiotics, and some of the physical NHS problems, most commonly excessive ward population, reduced cleaning, and a reduction in linen changes. In many cases, it’s the kind of thing that happens when you have bureaucrats trying to curry favor with their bosses by cutting back in basic services. You can get similar sorts of things happening in US hospitals, but there’s nothing like a government-run health care facility to really screw things up.
As far as the quotes from the politicians, think Nancy Pelosi’s “Bush’s failed Iraq Policy” circa 2003. Or, Chuckie Shumer whining ‘it’s not enough’.
There’s two excellent English health care blogs, both written by doctors, available online and they’ve had extensive discussions about this problem. Because they’re dealing with a government-run system, their items are frequently laced with alphabet soup that you have to decipher, but for those who follow the issue, they’re a great resource.
I think they need to temporarily empty the hospital, then runa robot through it with the radioactive stuff they use to irradiate food. That would sterilize the place, making it safe for a while.