Parents' anger as Crosshouse Hospital check shows baby has MRSA

Nov 13 2009

A COUPLE who fought for five weeks to have their baby boy’s sticky eye treated have now been told he has MRSA.

Russell Clark and Claire Baxter say their infant son may have avoided the superbug if they had been listened to by health professionals from the start.

Russell, 27, said: “We noticed Rhys’s eye was sticky just after he was born and we must have asked 20 or 30 times in the last five weeks to have his eye swabbed.

“But we just kept getting told it was a natural thing and to bathe his eye in water, but his eye just did not get better.

“As parents we felt something was not quite right and we kept pushing for something to be done.

“Claire had an infection at 30 weeks pregnant and while she was in labour her temperature spiked again, but no-one thought to connect that with Rhys’s eye.

“We asked the midwives at the hospital, the community midwife, ADOC, health visitors, but they all fobbed us off.

“Eventually at a drop in clinic at Crosshouse two weeks ago, the community nurse agreed to do a swab.”

The swab was sent off for analysis and almost a week later the couple, from Springside, were told their baby had MRSA.

Russell, originally from Kilmaurs, said: “When we told the nurse who took the swab he had MRSA, all she could say was ‘I’m glad I took the swab’.

“We’ve been fighting to have our son treated since he was born and now we’re still in the lurch. We don’t know if Rhys will suffer any long lasting effects because of this.”

Rhys, who is almost six weeks old, is now being treated with antibiotic drops and ointment.

Russell said: “We are glad our wee boy is finally getting the treatment he needs. But as parents we are still angry no-one listened to us.

“My advice to any new parents if they think something is wrong with their child, is to never give up asking for what you want, keep pushing until you get the answer.”

Professor Craig White, assistant director, Healthcare Quality, said: “The need for patient confidentiality prevents us from commenting on individual patients. However, we do have a robust complaints procedure and we would encourage people to make full use of this service should they have any concerns about their treatment.

“MRSA stands for meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus. It is a type of Staphylococcus aureus that has become resistant to meticillin (a type of antibiotic) and to some other frequently used antibiotics.

“A common germ, it can live harmlessly on the skin or in the nose and is not usually a risk to healthy people. One in three people are thought to have Staphylococcus aureus on their skin or in their nose.

“However it can sometimes cause a number of common infections which can be treated and cured. The majority of people who carry it are not aware that they do, and most of them will not have any symptoms.”