Tony WrightTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what requirement there is for death certificates to record information about MRSA and other hospital-acquired infections as a cause of death; [144461]
(2) how many people have died from MRSA and other hospital-acquired infections in the last year for which figures are available. [144475]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
572WLetter from Karen Dunnell to Tony Wright, dated 10 January 2001:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your two recent questions on the requirement for death certificates to record information about MRSA and other hospital-acquired infections as a cause of death, and on the number of people who have died from MRSA and other hospital-acquired infections (144461, 144475). I am replying in his absence.The doctor who signs the death certificate must state the cause of death to the 'best of his knowledge and belief. Guidance issued to doctors asks that they describe the cause of death as fully as possible including any underlying causes or contributory conditions, as well as the immediate cause of death.It is not possible to give reliable figures on the number of deaths involving MRSA or other hospital-acquired infections (HAI) from routinely collected mortality data. HAI are rarely the underlying cause of death. They may be mentioned as late complications of persons dying of other disease or injuries. However few certificates involving infections indicate whether the infection was acquired in hospital or in the community or whether it was resistant to antibiotics. Furthermore antibiotic resistance and place of infection are not coded in the Ninth Revision of the International Classification of Diseases which is used for recording cause of death.