:00:17. > :00:20.Tonight on Newsnight Scotland. Three NHS patients have died after
:00:20. > :00:23.contracting a new strain of the Clostridium Difficile bug. How can
:00:23. > :00:26.we protect ourselves against these things, and would it help if we
:00:26. > :00:30.knew where those deaths occurred? And currency, Calman and committee
:00:30. > :00:36.reports. A look back at the week with two former advisors to two
:00:36. > :00:39.First Ministers. Good evening. The NHS in Scotland has done a good job
:00:39. > :00:41.in tackling hospital-acquired infections over the last few year -
:00:41. > :00:44.partly through the simple expedient of telling doctors, nurses and
:00:44. > :00:48.visitors to wash their hands. But C-Diff is capable of rapid and
:00:48. > :00:52.deadly mutation. And one mutation, never seen anywhere else in the
:00:52. > :00:55.world, has killed three Scottish patients. So, how do we protect
:00:55. > :01:05.ourselves against it and other bugs? And wouldn't it help if we
:01:05. > :01:10.
:01:10. > :01:17.Clostridium Tata Steel, a bacteria which is constantly mutating. New
:01:17. > :01:27.strains are emerging all the time. There are around 500 known
:01:27. > :01:33.
:01:33. > :01:39.variations. A new one made its Three patients were seriously ill
:01:39. > :01:45.due to this strain. It is not known how they became infected. We have
:01:45. > :01:51.seen hundreds of new strains. It caught our attention. A few
:01:51. > :01:58.patients, within a relatively short period, develop the disease within
:01:58. > :02:04.a small area. We had to investigate if this was causing a particular
:02:04. > :02:09.problem. There are lots of hospital acquired infections but it seems as
:02:09. > :02:15.if CDF has almost become a household name in Scotland. It was
:02:15. > :02:21.at this hospital, almost exactly five years ago, it emerged that 55
:02:21. > :02:27.patients had become infected and 18 died. It was Scotland's worst
:02:27. > :02:34.outbreak. One of those who died was Sarah McGinty. She was admitted to
:02:34. > :02:39.hospital after suffering from a stroke. She never left. It was the
:02:39. > :02:44.most awful week. To see somebody going from somebody who was coming
:02:44. > :02:49.home - although she was paralysed - her mental faculties were there.
:02:50. > :02:55.She was always the same person we always knew. That week, she became
:02:55. > :03:01.a shadow and lost loads of weight. By Wednesday, police said commit
:03:01. > :03:09.you need to keep fighting. -- we said, you need to keep fighting.
:03:09. > :03:16.She was so ill. She was saying, I cannot do this any more. It is
:03:16. > :03:26.spread through faeces. Most people contract it while in hospital. As a
:03:26. > :03:35.result of the outbreak, more robust controlled infection measures have
:03:35. > :03:44.been introduced and they seem to be working. In U-brake, 765 patients
:03:44. > :03:50.died after contracting the bag. -- in 2008. There has been a reduction
:03:50. > :03:58.of 70%. If good hygiene can save lives, why not say whether a new
:03:58. > :04:05.strain of the infection has been found? You use every avenue. Tim
:04:05. > :04:11.miss out the biggest avenue - the general public - they are in daily
:04:11. > :04:21.contact with the most vulnerable. I think it is an rages and appalling.
:04:21. > :04:23.
:04:23. > :04:27.They need to hang their heads in shame. -- think it is outrageous.
:04:27. > :04:30.Officials maintained There is no increased risk to patients or the
:04:30. > :04:36.public. I'm joined now by Dr Martin Donagahy, who is the medical
:04:36. > :04:44.director of Health Protection Scotland. Can you give us an update
:04:44. > :04:52.on this new strain and what is happening? It is one of 500 strains
:04:52. > :04:56.- it is a new one. It doesn't pose any other risk to the other 500 in
:04:56. > :05:00.terms of ease of spreading or its impact on health. We are looking
:05:00. > :05:06.into it, as we do on every new strain. We collaborate across
:05:06. > :05:11.Europe and the UK, investigating these things. So far, we have no
:05:11. > :05:18.indication that this new strain is of any greater risk than the others.
:05:18. > :05:28.You do not actually know? We have recognised it and are investigating
:05:28. > :05:36.it. Just to be clear... As far as you know, there is no greater risk.
:05:36. > :05:41.We know enough to come to an initial view that there is no
:05:41. > :05:48.additional risk. We have to balance two factors - one is the public
:05:48. > :05:58.health risk. Just to clarify, it is not the situation that is analogous
:05:58. > :05:59.
:05:59. > :06:02.to what happened in the Vale of Eton. It was picked up by a routine
:06:03. > :06:10.monitoring. There have been no pointers to the fact that the
:06:10. > :06:17.hospitals which have been affected Park at increased risk. -- are at.
:06:17. > :06:23.There are three elderly people involved - families who are
:06:23. > :06:33.involved - he had a right to confidentiality. The rules by which
:06:33. > :06:38.
:06:38. > :06:42.we work, we cannot divulge patient details. -- you have a right to
:06:42. > :06:48.confidentiality. When you have small numbers like that, experience
:06:48. > :06:53.has been that people can be traced - that has occurred. What you are
:06:53. > :06:58.telling people right across Scotland is, if they are going for
:06:59. > :07:02.an operation, or they have an elderly parent who is going for an
:07:02. > :07:07.operation, there is in you strain of this work which she cannot
:07:07. > :07:11.categorically say poses a greater risk than existing strains. It has
:07:11. > :07:16.been found in a hospital in Scotland but those people have no
:07:16. > :07:25.right to know whether the hospital they are going into his web the bug
:07:25. > :07:31.has been found. It is like something out of the Soviet Union.
:07:31. > :07:41.This is a brisk situation. We are saying there is no evidence of an
:07:41. > :07:41.
:07:41. > :07:46.increased risk. -- a risk situation. Anyone visiting needs to take extra
:07:46. > :07:52.precautions - wash their hands for example. There is no evidence from
:07:52. > :07:58.the hospital There is a situation of increased risk. This has been
:07:58. > :08:08.captured by routine monitoring. It has been investigated and there is
:08:08. > :08:12.
:08:12. > :08:19.no just a short -- there is no risk. Be sure you take every precaution.
:08:19. > :08:24.In China, there is a new strain of bird flu. The Chinese Communist
:08:24. > :08:32.government has not tried to hide which hospitals the patience the
:08:32. > :08:41.rim of which areas of the country - - the patients are in awe which
:08:41. > :08:47.areas of the country it affects. need to balance the rights of
:08:47. > :08:53.individuals who have had a recently deceased member of a family. We are
:08:54. > :08:59.having to establish that balance regularly and review it. In this
:08:59. > :09:02.situation, the assessment we have done is that if we do release that
:09:02. > :09:12.information, there is an increased probability these individuals will
:09:12. > :09:42.
:09:42. > :09:48.says that we should have a separate Scottish currency. To budget at its
:09:48. > :09:50.kindest, this is complete shambles. On currency and pensions, is he not
:09:50. > :09:55.gambling with the financial future of every man, woman and child in
:09:55. > :10:00.Scotland? He is under pressure from friend and foe to wobble. Is he
:10:00. > :10:06.wobbling? The First Minister stood firm and said he would leave any
:10:06. > :10:10.wobbling to the Liberal Democrats. He said they preferred to keep the
:10:10. > :10:15.pound is part of a sterling zone. This is the country with a strong
:10:15. > :10:20.budget position. This is the country with a surplus in the balance of
:10:20. > :10:24.trade. The idea that we will be beholden to a country with a worse
:10:24. > :10:29.fiscal position and the deficit is simply quite incredible. It's just
:10:29. > :10:32.bite the jeering and in the Uzi Astec displays of support, at one
:10:32. > :10:38.point it seemed that the whole independence debate was no laughing
:10:38. > :10:43.matter. It all began when Susan Kalman poked fun at the yes campaign
:10:43. > :10:47.on a topical radio news quiz. are not going to build a border,
:10:47. > :10:53.they are going to keep the pound, we will still have the well family. So
:10:53. > :11:01.I'm not sure what's going on. was enough to attract the eye of
:11:01. > :11:07.some pro-independence campaigners. She said she was accused of racism
:11:07. > :11:16.towards her own people. The foreign affairs committee in Westminster
:11:16. > :11:21.said that a yes vote could am age the rest of the world's opinion of
:11:21. > :11:26.the UK. It was described as baseless and scaremongering.
:11:26. > :11:32.I'm joined now by David Whitton, Donald Dewar and Stephen Gethins,
:11:32. > :11:42.aspiring SEP, MEP, and former adviser to Alex Salmond. There is a
:11:42. > :11:44.growing perception, we had to journalist on last night broadly
:11:44. > :11:48.sympathetic to the yes campaign, both saying they were worried that
:11:48. > :11:52.the UK government and parliament were coming out with all these
:11:52. > :11:55.reports, and there was nothing coming back on the other direction.
:11:55. > :12:01.If you were still advising Alex Salmond, what would you tell him to
:12:01. > :12:06.do? To be fair, I think you have got to leave certain things to the yes
:12:06. > :12:13.campaign. I think that the yes campaign has been very good at
:12:13. > :12:17.trying to be positive. One specific point on the issue of currency. I
:12:17. > :12:20.very much doubt if Alex Salmond could leave it up to the yes
:12:20. > :12:26.campaign given that the president of it takes a completely different view
:12:26. > :12:29.to him. So the yes campaign isn't much use to him there. If two
:12:29. > :12:32.different political parties have different views on the currency,
:12:32. > :12:36.that is fair enough, because if there is an independent Scotland, it
:12:36. > :12:41.will be for the Scottish people to elect a government, and different
:12:41. > :12:47.parties will put forward different policies. You have Labour and the
:12:47. > :12:51.Tories who were working very closely together. But the problem is that
:12:51. > :12:57.the SNP's argument is that you can vote yes safe in the knowledge that
:12:57. > :13:01.the pound in your pocket will stay the same, and if your own campaign
:13:01. > :13:05.is saying, no, it won't, it may well be the argument becomes, you can
:13:05. > :13:08.vote yes and we will decide later what to do with the currency, but
:13:08. > :13:14.that is a very different point from the reassuring message that Alex
:13:14. > :13:20.Salmond is trying to give. What would you tell him to do? What I
:13:20. > :13:25.would tell him to do, he is still very popular, there is still a long
:13:25. > :13:29.way to go. He will still get a positive vision for independence,
:13:30. > :13:37.just occasionally, maybe he could have a go at the Labour and Tory
:13:37. > :13:41.coalition over this. Let's say you are adviser to him, try to protect
:13:41. > :13:49.him, what would you say that they need to do? They have to get a grip
:13:49. > :13:54.of what the policy actually is. We have had more changes of mind on
:13:54. > :14:04.what our currency position is then there are names for the new fourth
:14:04. > :14:05.
:14:05. > :14:09.quarter. If you were special adviser, after the bashing they have
:14:09. > :14:15.had on the currency, what would you say he needs to do? He has to start
:14:15. > :14:19.making sure that people believe that they have a plan for separation once
:14:19. > :14:25.the referendum is over. He has to convince people that he is going to
:14:25. > :14:29.win it. At the moment, they are all over the place. The funniest thing
:14:29. > :14:35.this week was Jon Snow turning him over on Channel four, when he turned
:14:35. > :14:40.back to attacking Alistair Darling and ran away. He has got to stop
:14:40. > :14:44.that. He has got to start coming across as a statesman. I know it is
:14:44. > :14:49.difficult for him, but he has to try to do that. He will also have to try
:14:49. > :14:51.to convince people that he knows what he is doing. At the moment, he
:14:51. > :14:56.and the yes campaign give every impression that they don't know what
:14:56. > :15:02.they are doing. If you stripped away the cheap jibes in what he has just
:15:02. > :15:07.said... There wouldn't be much left! But there is a grain of truth,
:15:07. > :15:15.that that is the problem. The S NP are not coming over as credible in
:15:15. > :15:17.what they are saying. I don't think that is true. The SNP got elected in
:15:17. > :15:21.2011 based on doing a pretty good job with a small number of powers
:15:21. > :15:26.that they had. I think they are still perceived as having done a
:15:26. > :15:29.good job. Different political parties have different views on
:15:29. > :15:35.currency, and that is the prerogative of different parties to
:15:35. > :15:41.do so. I think they are doing a good job on this. They have good done a
:15:41. > :15:45.good job currently in government, and that is a good case to build on.
:15:45. > :15:51.But one of the colonels in what he was saying is that he has to
:15:51. > :15:58.convince people that what they are saying is credible. And they have to
:15:58. > :16:03.stop these cyber attacks on anybody who disagrees. If somebody makes a
:16:03. > :16:08.joke about the SNP position, suddenly they are being attacked.
:16:08. > :16:13.Even your own Douglas Fraser, your economics correspondent, gets
:16:13. > :16:17.attacked for hinting that Nessie might not exist. That is
:16:17. > :16:22.ridiculous. They have to get a grip of that. You do the get that from
:16:22. > :16:27.both sides. We are all going to have to laugh at ourselves occasionally
:16:27. > :16:32.in a long campaign. What we have seen this week, and to be fair, what
:16:32. > :16:37.we have seen this week for the first time, our senior people in the SNP
:16:37. > :16:45.saying to some of these commentators, on the Internet, stop
:16:45. > :16:50.it. You are right. Shaun Robson put out a tweet, she said that people
:16:50. > :16:53.should be allowed to make jokes. One of the great things about Scotland
:16:53. > :16:57.is the ability to laugh at ourselves, and we are going to have
:16:57. > :17:02.to have lighter moments over the next little while. What would your
:17:02. > :17:06.advice to his lot be? My advice to this lot would be, I think they have
:17:06. > :17:12.to set out a positive case, because I think your negativity only goes so
:17:12. > :17:17.far, and this is something that played out in the 2011 election. We
:17:17. > :17:21.are still to hear a positive case and vision for the union. But we are
:17:21. > :17:27.not the ones who want to break it up. You have to make the case for
:17:28. > :17:33.breaking up the union. If it isn't broke, don't fix it.
:17:33. > :17:38.But the truth in what he is saying is that, not that you shouldn't be
:17:38. > :17:42.negative, you are right, but that there has got to be some positivity.
:17:42. > :17:48.There are lots of things going on, Gordon. Joanne Lamont has had her
:17:48. > :17:52.own commission looking at things, and after the referendum is over and
:17:53. > :18:00.we have run the referendum, if the result independence, there are lots
:18:00. > :18:04.of plans to look at how devolution will grow as the years go on.
:18:04. > :18:08.are adding to be tremendously positive, but not yet? Why would we
:18:08. > :18:14.stop having fun when the SNP keep giving us open goal is to kick them
:18:14. > :18:24.into? They have a plan, but they won't tell us what it is! That is
:18:24. > :18:30.
:18:30. > :18:36.all we have time for this week. Good seize on decent sunshine across much
:18:36. > :18:39.of central and eastern England to start with. A little more cloud
:18:39. > :18:44.further west, and some thicker cloud, rain and strong winds to the
:18:44. > :18:48.North. Certainly by the middle of the afternoon, that will be sitting
:18:48. > :18:52.across Northern Ireland, the disappointing 10 Celsius. There will
:18:52. > :18:56.be some snow above 300 metres to the higher ground, the tops of the
:18:57. > :19:02.mountains in Scotland. That rain will slowly sinks south across the
:19:02. > :19:05.borders by the middle of the afternoon. We cling on to the
:19:05. > :19:14.sunshine, though, through the Midlands, East Anglia and the
:19:14. > :19:17.south-east corner. A little more cloud across the south-west, and the
:19:17. > :19:23.cloud thickens for a few showers perhaps across west facing coast of
:19:23. > :19:27.Wales. Further inland, you will keep writer skies. Certainly from many of
:19:27. > :19:30.our major cities, there is rain to be found in the north, disappointing
:19:30. > :19:35.field to things on Friday, and a better day for the start of the
:19:35. > :19:43.weekend. We keep the sunshine and the warmth, little more cloud into
:19:43. > :19:46.the south-east for Saturday. And the reason for the cloudy skies is that