“I try not to worry about whether MMR caused the autism, although in my heart of hearts I believe it did But that is not going to change anything We accept the situation as it is It makes a huge difference to us all that Joe is disabled.”. An army of 2,000 matrons is to be put to work in Britain’s hospital wards after an absence of 30 years, Alan Milburn, the Secretary of State for Health, said yesterday. The first 500 modern matrons will be in post by next April and take overall charge of three to four wards covering specialties such as cancer, paediatrics or surgery. An army of 2,000 matrons is to be put to work in Britain’s hospital wards after an absence of 30 years, Alan Milburn, the Secretary of State for Health, said yesterday. The first 500 modern matrons will be in post by next April and take overall charge of three to four wards covering specialties such as cancer, paediatrics or surgery.They will have control over budgets, catering and cleaning, take responsibility for driving up standards, preventing hospital infections and liaison with patients and their relatives.The matrons, who will all be in place by 2004 and will earn up to £31,000 a year, should be easily identifiable by distinctive uniforms and name badges, Mr Milburn said. They will be in charge of cleanliness and food on the wards and have the power to withhold payments from catering and cleaning firms that do not perform well.Matrons will also be in charge of ensuring frail and vulnerable elderly patients are treated with respect and able to eat their meals, in response to claims that food is left out of reach at the bottom of beds.Mr Milburn said: “Patients want to know who to turn to They need to know who’s in charge. Matrons on the wards will have the authority to put things right for patients.

Matron will make sure the wards are clean, the food is good, the care is there.”Christine Hancock, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said: “Patients have been crying out for someone they know to be in charge on hospital wards. Giving modern matrons enough staff, the right resources and control of the essentials of patient care, from good nutrition to clean wards and the right to be nursed with dignity, provides a strong blueprint for the future.”But the Conservatives claimed Labour has copied their idea to “bring back matron”. Dr Liam Fox said: “I sometimes wonder if an original thought has ever passed through Alan Milburn’s head.”. The number of tuberculosis cases linked to a secondary school tripled overnight to 24 in what doctors said yesterday was a “major outbreak”.

Public health workers dealing with the lung disease at the school in Leicester said they had identified a virulent strain, probably from the wider community. The number of tuberculosis cases linked to a secondary school tripled overnight to 24 in what doctors said yesterday was a “major outbreak”. Public health workers dealing with the lung disease at the school in Leicester said they had identified a virulent strain, probably from the wider community.
A screening programme at the 1,200-pupil Crown Hills Community College also found 60 students incubating the bacteria All of the students are being treated with antibiotics A teacher who had symptoms is on sick leave. On Tuesday, there were seven confirmed cases and 35 children were given preventative treatment after tests on 700 pupils aged 11 to 14. Experts believe the disease is in the community.Yesterday, 13 more children had developed TB, as had three relatives of pupils already infected. Some students may have to be admitted to hospital as a precaution, although none is thought to have developed the serious stage of the illness, when it reaches the lungs, said a spokesman for Leicestershire Health Authority.Tests will be done on the remaining 500 students, aged 15 to 16, after the Easter break, he said, and the number infected could rise considerably.Dr Philip Monk, consultant in communicable diseases for the authority, said he was dealing with the biggest British TB caseload in recent times “This is clearly a major outbreak.

While we have found a lot of students at this college, it is most likely to be a reflection of a community outbreak. It is a particularly virulent strain of the disease that is spreading rapidly.”There was speculation that the high proportion of students at Crown Hills from the Indian sub-continent, where TB is rife, could be at the root of the onslaught But Dr Monk said: “How it was introduced we do not know. It doesn’t have to be from travelling abroad.”Tuberculosis, or consumption, infects one in three people in the world, although not all of them will develop symptoms of the disease. An estimated 30 million people internationally will die of it over the next decade.During the 19th century it was responsible for 25 per cent of all deaths in Britain, despite it being unheard of before 1500.

Its existence is a by-product of urbanisation and is passed by the most casual human contact, including coughs and sneezes.The effect of the disease depends on the state of the patient’s immune system and thus, by extension, on their diet and living conditions. As a result TB is widely recognised as an index of poverty and poor health and also as a barometer of social change.During the 1950s and 1960s a programme of BCG vaccination and rising standards of living temporarily quelled the disease in Britain. But the number of reported cases is on the rise again: 6,000 cases were reported in 1998 and 7,000 in 1999. The recent leap in numbers has been attributed variously to the development of strains of TB that are resistant to drugs, immigration, homelessness and Aids A high proportion of Aids sufferers die of TB.