NHS: MRSA figures dropped by record amount in 2006-7

MRSA cases fell by a record amount last year, according to government statistics published this week.

Quarterly figures on healthcare-associated infections show that incidences of the hospital superbug have almost halved (down 49 per cent), compared with the average in 2003-4.

The Health Protection Agency numbers show the number of MRSA bloodstream infections is down 30 per cent, the biggest reduction in five years.

Numbers for another healthcare-related infection, C.difficile, are also improving and are down by 32 per cent compared with 2007.

Head of the Agency’s Healthcare-Associated Infection and Antimicrobial Resistance Department, Dr Georgia Duckworth, said the drop in figures was impressive and credited it to NHS workers strengthening good practice in infection control.

Dr Duckworth said: “If we are to continue this reduction in healthcare associated infections it is vital that the measures which have won this significant success remain in place and that the public and healthcare workers recognise their importance.”

This week, the health secretary Alan Johnson launched the End of Life Care Strategy, a ten-year plan which aims to help more people to die in the setting they choose.