TB Staff Crisis Looms in England

A "desperate shortage" of staff is hampering England's efforts to tackle TB, experts warned in a report presented at the winter meeting of the British Thoracic Society (BTS) of London on Wednesday. The report shows that only one in six areas with a high incidence of TB can meet the minimum requirement for numbers of staff.

The Joint Tuberculosis Committee of the BTS, which carried out the audit of staffing levels, found that there had been no improvement in staffing levels since 1998 -- despite a 12 percent increase in the rate of TB over the years. Only seven of the 43 districts surveyed provided sufficient nurse support for patients with TB. According to the report, in 1998, just six of 42 -- and none of the areas in London -- met the minimum standards.

TB levels are now at a 13-year high, rising from 5,085 cases in 1987 to 6,797 in 2001. Outbreaks in Leicester and Newport have raised the profile of the disease. And experts say there should be one full-time nurse for every 50 cases of TB, and one per 40 patients in London where there is a higher incidence of the disease. Such a high ratio of staff to patients is needed because in addition to monitoring and treating patients, staff must also track down people who have been in contact with the patient.

Dr. John Harvey of the BTS said, "Recent outbreaks of TB have shown that we cannot be complacent about this disease -- it has leapt back out of the history books and we must beat it. It is vitally important that we continue to invest into contact tracking and treating tuberculosis both to ensure that patients get the care they deserve and to prevent TB spreading from person to person across the UK."

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