Trust comes bottom of MRSA table

The trust said its MRSA rate has been falling

The Trust which runs Selly Oak and the Queen Elizabeth Hospitals in Birmingham has come bottom of a league table for infection rates of the MRSA superbug.

Government figures show the University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust had a rise in cases from 123 to 152 for the year 2004 to 2005.

The trust runs specialist hospitals which care for the sickest patients and traditionally have higher MRSA rates.

In contrast, Birmingham Women's Hospital showed no infection rates.

Infection control is the biggest priority for our Trust Dr Martin Gill, University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust

The University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust said it was "disappointed" that there had been an increase in MRSA figures.

Dr Martin Gill, the trust's head of infection control, said in a statement: "Our MRSA rate has been falling every six months for the past four years.

"We are disappointed that our figures for October 2004 to March 2005 show an increase which is out of line with the consistent reduction which has been achieved.

"The information published today [Thursday] is retrospective and we are pleased that our figures for the most recent two months show we have returned to the long term trend of reducing infection rates."

He added: "Infection control is the biggest priority for our trust and we have recently introduced a comprehensive and rigorous infection control policy to achieve a long term fall in the incidence of MRSA."

Measures taken by the trust include a high profile hand hygiene campaign for staff, patients and visitors as well as providing disinfectant gels close to patients and clip-on gel containers for clinical staff.