Local Hospitals Battle Killer Bugs

3.01.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 14th Jul 2004

Vincent Cable MP for Twickenham

The local hospitals have had very different experiences in dealing with the MRSA super bug. The latest Department of Health figures show that West Middlesex and Kingston (also Ealing and Ashford) are containing the bugs - associated with poor hygiene - but Hammersmith, widely used locally for cancer patients, has seen many more and a big increase of cases, as have the famous central London hospitals like Guys and St Thomas.

Number of MRSA cases April 2001/2 April 2002/3 April 2003/4

West Mid 23 42 26

Kingston 23 36 30

Hammersmith 89 115 125

Guys & St Thomas 114 154 166

Ashford 60 65 44

Vincent Cable said: "At last the government seems to be waking up to the seriousness of this problem. I first raised it in parliament six years ago after a lady in Whitton had her cancer treatment seriously disrupted by MRSA; but the issue was not taken seriously. Now there is a realisation that hospitals kill people as well as cure them, unless there are scrupulously observed standards of hygiene from staff at all levels".

"The West Middlesex and Kingston don't come out of the comparisons too badly though it is worth noting that the really outstanding hospitals like the Royal Marsden and Great Ormond Street have cases in single figures. The chances of catching MRSA are pretty small; at the West Middlesex only 2.5 per 10,000 bad days and only 1.4 per 10,000 at Kingston - but the consequences are such that even this is too high"