MRSA on the rise at Liverpool's hospitals

Jan 30 2008 by Liza Williams, Liverpool Daily Post

MRSA Bugs

CASES of deadly superbug MRSA at Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen Hospitals are on the rise, latest figures reveal.

Health Protection Agency (HPA) figures show the rate of people reported with the disease by the hospitals’ Trust between April and September last year was 1.92 per 10,000 beds, compared with 1.75 during the previous quarter.

Numbers at many other hospitals dropped or stayed the same, with the Countess of Chester’s rate dropping from 2.16 to 1.14 over the same period.

Figures for the other prevalent hospital superbug, C Difficile, have also dropped at the majority of the region’s hospitals.

Stars of the show were Liverpool Women’s Hospital which did not have a single case of either superbug and Alder Hey which had just one.

The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust recorded 117 C Difficile cases between July and September 2007, compared to 134 from April to June.

Hospital managers at the Trust said they were not surprised by the figures for MRSA infections, which totalled 32 cases compared to 29 in the previous quarter.

Diane Wake, director of Infection, Prevention and Control, said: “We realised last year that we were struggling with this issue.

“However, we have invested well over half a million pounds since August and there have been marked improvements in both MRSA and C Difficile rates.”

She added that a new antibiotics policy, replacement curtains, improved hand hygiene and a better cleaning regime, will help to show improvements next quarter. Aintree Hospital’s rate for MRSA remained the same at 1.20 per 10,000 patients, but the trust saw a dramatic reduction in cases of C diff.

Sally Ferguson, director of Nursing & Patient Services said: “The Trust treats all health related infections very seriously and we continue to do everything we can to prevent or reduce the chances of patients getting infections.

“We are providing more single rooms to treat patients in isolation to reduce the risk of cross-infection.”

lizawilliams