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Dept of Health

Answer

Mr. Viggers: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of MRSA have been detected in NHS hospitals; what steps including ward closures have been taken to prevent the spread of the infection; and what has been the resulting loss of medical facilities which would otherwise have been available. [141379] Mr. Denham: The Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) compiles aggregate data on numbers of incidents of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) which are voluntarily submitted by trusts for specialist microbiological tests. These are given in the table. Data on Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemias (blood infections) showing the proportion resistant to methicillin in England and Wales are published quarterly by the PHLS in their Communicable Disease Report, copies of which are available in the Library of the House. More comprehensive information about bacteraemias, including MRSA, will be collected from all acute trusts from 1 April 2001 and data will be published from 1 April 2002. The other information requested is not held centrally. Incidents of MRSA 1996-1998 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1996 1997 1998 Anglia and Oxford 237 297 223 North Thames 539 544 289 North West 176 259 215 Northern and Yorkshire 150 224 202 South and West 206 254 101 South Thames 421 385 220 Trent 99 123 109 West Midlands 121 102 69 Wales 158 176 169 Total 2,107 2,364 1,597 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Incidents of MRSA 1999-2000 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1999 2000 Eastern 80 30 London 290 100 Northern and Yorkshire 170 40 North West 180 50 South East 170 60 South West 40 10 Trent 100 30 West Midlands 30 30 Wales 130 30 Total 1,190 380 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Notes: 1. For 1996 and the first half of 1997 data have been amalgamated to the approximate boundaries of the new Regional Office areas. This allows for comparison with subsequent years. 2. An incident is three or more patients infected or colonised by the same strain of MRSA in the same month from the same hospital. 3. The criteria for submission of isolates of MRSA (and other isolates of staphylococcus aureus) to the PHLS for specialist tests have been revised twice since 1996 (in January 1998 and in January 2000). 4. These revised criteria have led to a fall in the number of incidents of MRSA that were reported to the PHLS.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

359 c186-7W;359 c184-5W; 141379

Session

2000-01

Subjects

Closures Hospitals Disease control Infectious diseases Hospital wards Public Health Laboratory Service MRSA

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk