Hospital reports lowest MRSA rate

Frimley Park Hospital is screening all inpatients for MRSA

Extra infection control measures at a Surrey hospital have led to its lowest MRSA rates, a NHS trust has said.

Frimley Park Hospital NHS Foundation Trust had five cases of the superbug from October to March, but said only one patient caught it on a ward.

It said it was the lowest six-monthly figure recorded by the trust and claimed it was the lowest figure from hospitals in the South East region.

The trust said clostridium difficile (C.diff) cases had been reduced by 70%.

MRSA screening

Figures for C.diff for April to June 2008 showed there were 23 hospital-acquired cases compared with 78 in the same period for 2007.

Nursing director Mary Dunne said measures brought in last year had led to the fall in infection rates.

She said measures included screening all inpatients for MRSA, changing visiting times, and analysis of the cause of any hospital-acquired MRSA and C.diff cases.

Screening all hospital inpatients for MRSA had been made a requirement from March 2009 but Frimley Park Hospital brought it in earlier, she added.