Blogs

MRSA cases are at a record low, figures show. Health Protection Agency data confirmed there were fewer than 100 infections in a single month across NHS trusts in England.

Labour introduced mandatory surveillance of hospital infections in 2001 after an outcry over the number of patients contracting MRSA and another bug, Clostridium difficile (C diff).

The data showed 25 acute trusts have been free of MRSA for the past year. Figures for June this year show MRSA bloodstream infections fell from 134 compared with 97 in June 2010.

C. diff cases fell from 2,001 to 1,681, down 16%, continuing a downward trend.

The Guardian reports that health secretary Andrew Lansley said: "This sustained pattern of falling infections across the health service is good news. However, the variation between the very best in the country and the very worst is still unacceptably high.”

At Bolt Burdon Kemp we regularly hear of circumstances where infection is a cause of injuries which may have been brought about by medical negligence.

Andrew Lansley admits that "while progress has been made, we must do better to shrink this gap and improve standards for all."