Written question asked by Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour) on Thursday, 17 February 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 28 February 2011. It was answered by Simon Burns (Conservative) on Monday, 28 February 2011 on behalf of the Department of Health.

MRSA: Screening

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what methods of screening against the MRSA bacterium hospitals use; what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of such methods; and if he will make a statement.

Answer: There are four types of suitable Meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) screening methods. These are:"1. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR test) of nucleic acids (rapid testing);""2. Rapid enrichment and immunomagnetic/bioluminescent detection;""3. Chromogenic Agar plating (direct culture); and""4. Broth enrichment culture followed by agar subculture."Decisions regarding what type of test to use either in isolation or combination are made locally based on clinical protocols. The Department has not conducted an assessment of the effectiveness of the different screening methods.Diagnostic MRSA screening tests for any of these types should be CE marked by the manufacturer according to the safety, quality and performance requirements of the EC in vitro diagnostic devices directive (transposed in to United Kingdom law by the Medical Devices Regulations 2002) before they are placed on the UK market.

Secondary information