§ Dr. FoxTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospital-acquired infections there were in each of the past five years. [24576]
§ Jacqui SmithThe data requested are not held centrally. Healthcare associated infections in general, and Methicillin resistantStaphylococcus aureus (MRSA) specifically, are a recognised problem in most parts of the world. It is generally accepted that, at any one time in England, as many as 9 per cent. of in-patients have an infection acquired since their admission to hospital. Information about bacteraemias (blood borne infections) due to MRSA has been collected from all acute trusts as the first stage of a new comprehensive and compulsory surveillance system since 1 April 2001. Early data from this surveillance were published in the Public Health Laboratory Service Communicable Disease Report on 8 February. (www.phls.co.uk/publications/CDR per cent.20Weekly/pages/news.html#MRSA)