§ Paul FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many lives were lost in NHS hospitals as a result of MRSA in each of the last 12 years. [2378]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 9 July 2001]: There are no centrally held statistics on deaths caused by hospital acquired infections, including Methicillin resistant "Staphylococcus aureus" (MRSA).
MRSA infection can take the form of many different diseases from trivial skin infection to pneumonia or septicaemia. It is difficult to tell what contribution MRSA infection makes to death. MRSA does not have a distinct code within the revision of the international classification of diseases used for coding diagnostic data in the National Health Service and death registration data at the Office for National Statistics.