London - Britain's health chief apologised on Monday for an outbreak of a deadly bacterial infection in English hospitals that left 90 people dead, but insisted the incident was an isolated one.
A report into the deaths by England's health watchdog said nurses working for the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells hospital trust in southeastern England did not wash their hands and left patients lying in their own excrement. British Health Secretary Alan Johnson said the report, which included photographs of filthy hospital showers, sinks and toilets, was a "horror story." "On behalf of the government and the (National Health Service), I would like to apologise to all those... affected," he told lawmakers at an emergency session of Parliament.
"But I hope the House will recognise that the awful failures in Maidstone and Tunbridge are entirely unrepresentative of the standards of care that patients and the public rightly expect and is delivered in hospitals across the country, day after day."
The report, made public by England's Healthcare Commission last week, found that "significant failings" at all levels contributed to more than 1 000 patients being infected with Clostridium difficile, a potentially fatal antibiotic-resistant "superbug," across three hospitals run by the trust.
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