JOHN REID, the health secretary, has disclosed that his mother died in a National Health Service ward as a result of a “hospital acquired” infection.

Amid the concern over the superbug MRSA, Reid is said to have told medical staff that his mother’s death has not shaken his faith in the health service.

Mary Reid died, aged 85, in Wishaw general hospital, Lanarkshire, last June. Pneumonia is listed as one of the causes on her death certificate. Her son is reported to have said the death was from a “hospital acquired infection” during a speech at Bedford hospital this month.

One of those present said he told the meeting: “It is sad, but she had good care and she was 85 years old and we all have to go some time. It doesn’t mean she didn’t receive good care.”

Hospital acquired infections, which claim 5,000 lives a year, have become an election issue. The Conservatives have pledged to spend £52m fighting MRSA as well as giving matrons the power to shut infected wards.

Tony Blair has called on the public to put the threat of MRSA “in context”. Labour insists that MRSA rates are beginning to fall.

Reid’s latest remarks have been interpreted by the Tories as an attempt to downplay the significance of MRSA by suggesting that hospital acquired infections are common and unavoidable.The official definition of a hospital acquired infection is one that develops 48 hours after admission to hospital. It does not mean it was directly caused by the hospital.

Pneumonia is an inflammation of the lung caused by bacteria or viruses. It can be difficult to establish whether the infection was acquired in hospital. People can carry the infection in their throats and it is only when their immune system is weakened that it causes illness.

Even if the patient does catch the pneumonia in hospital from another patient, it is not necessarily the result of poor hygiene.

Professor Hugh Pennington of Aberdeen University, a microbiologist and expert in hospital acquired infection, said that unlike MRSA (methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus), hospital acquired pneumonia was not the result of dirty hospitals. “A lot of elderly people in hospital will have the infection and there is very little the hospital can do about it. John Reid is right in this sense: pneumonia is not the result of dirty hospitals. But MRSA is a different matter,” he said.

Pennington added that while separate hospital rooms could reduce the spread of infection, the bug could be passed on through the ventilation system or when patients met in communal areas.

Andrew Lansley, shadow health secretary, said: “John Reid said MRSA was not the biggest issue for the NHS, but patients do not want to hear politicians downplay hospital acquired infections. They want to hear politicians offering solutions.” oMichael Howard has apologised for mistakes in Tory letters about MRSA rates in NHS hospitals, which exaggerated its prevalence.

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