Written question asked by Keith Vaz (Labour) on Thursday, 24 October 2002, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 5 November 2002. It was answered by Hazel Blears (Labour) on Tuesday, 5 November 2002 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people contacted MRSA and in which hospitals in 2001. - Figures not collated centrally and ref to Communicable Disease Report Weekly published 20 June 2002 and available on www.phls.co.uk/publications/cdr/PDFfiles/2002/cdr2502.pdf.

Answer: Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people contacted MRSA and in which hospitals in 2001. [77963] Ms Blears: These figures are not available as information on Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) infections, apart from MRSA blood stream infections, is not collated centrally. Mandatory reporting of MRSA blood stream infections was introduced for all acute national health service trusts on 1 April 2001 and data are routinely published. Results by individual trust for the first year of this scheme (April 2001 to March 2002) were published in the Communicable Disease Report Weekly on 20 June 2002 and are available on the Public Health Laboratory Service website www.phls.co.uk/publications/cdr/ PDFfiles/2002/cdr2502.pdf.

Secondary information