Hospitals make a clean sweep of superbug infections

Data from the Health Protection Agency confirmed fewer than 100 infections in a single month across NHS trusts in England.

Labour introduced mandatory surveillance of hospital infections in 2001 after an outcry over the number of patients contracting MRSA and another bug Clostridium difficile (C.diff).

Latest figures show 25 trusts have now been free of MRSA for the last year including three in Yorkshire – with Barnsley, Rotherham and Sheffield Children’s hospitals among those reporting no cases.

Hospitals in Leeds saw 30 cases – more than anywhere else in England – accounting for nearly five per cent of all infections in the country over the period.

Compared with June 2010, figures for this June show MRSA bloodstream infections have fallen from 134 in the NHS to 97.

C.diff cases have fallen from 2,001 to 1,681, down 16 per cent, continuing a downward trend.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: “I have been calling for a zero-tolerance approach to avoidable healthcare-associated infections since 2004.

“Now, just over one year into the coalition government, MRSA bloodstream infections in the NHS are at their lowest level since records began with fewer than 100 infections in a single month for the first time. What’s more, 25 trusts have been MRSA-free for more than a year, proving that with tough infection control measures we can eradicate avoidable infections from the NHS altogether.

“This sustained pattern of falling infections across the health service is good news. However, the variation between the very best in the country and the very worst is still unacceptably high.

“So while progress has been made, we must do better to shrink this gap and improve standards for all.”

Christina McAnea, head of health at the union Unison, warned Government cuts could mean the drop in rates is a “temporary relief”.

“Their demand for £20bn in so-called ‘efficiency savings’ is piling on the pressure,” she said. “History proves that outsourcing is a disaster for hospital cleaning.