Reid pledges to halve MRSA bloodstream infections
Health Secretary John Reid today pledged to halve MRSA bloodstream infections in hospitals by 2008.
Dr Reid told the Chief Nursing Officer’s conference in Manchester that the Government was committed to lowering rates of healthcare acquired infections and this new target would help achieve that.
Cases of infections such as the antibiotic-resistant MRSA have been steadily increasing since 2001 and now kill around 5,000 people each year, according to the National Audit Office.
Between April 2003 and March 2004, MRSA blood infections increased by 3.6 per cent from 7,384 to 7,647.
The Government has come under pressure from opposition politicians over rates of MRSA in hospitals. Last month it published a “Matron’s Charter” and appointed Chris Beasley as Chief Nursing Officer to improve hygiene and cleanliness in every hospital.
Dr Reid said that figures on healthcare associated infections were already published for each hospital so they could be monitored, but pledged further action to tackle the problem.
“I expect MRSA bloodstream infection rates to be halved in our hospitals by 2008. NHS Acute Trusts will be tasked with achieving a year on year reduction up to and beyond March 2008,” he said.
“This is extremely challenging. All trusts will have to identify high-risk sources of infection and draw up comprehensive action plans to prevent or isolate MRSA in order to achieve this reduction.”
The new target was criticised by Conservative Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley. He said “Whitehall targets have been a key cause in the proliferation of MRSA since 1997, and here we see the government setting another target.
“As MRSA has doubled since 1997, halving it would bring us back to where we began.
“This target is nothing but all talk and it will achieve little to combat the wider issue of hospital-acquired infections.”
