CASES of MRSA, the hospital superbug, are now at the lowest ever recorded after a crackdown on poor hygiene standards, the Government is to announce today.

The most recent data for methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus show that there were 3,519 cases in NHS hospitals between April and September last year, down from almost 4,000 over the preceding six months.

However, the current level is only 79 cases lower than in April 2001, when recording of the antibiotic resistant bug began. Last night opposition politicians questioned how cases could be falling when the number of MRSA-related deaths had risen markedly over the same period.

Hospital-acquired infections are responsible for about 5,000 deaths a year in the NHS, with 1,000 related to MRSA alone.John Reid, the Health Secretary, paid tribute to NHS staff for helping to stem the rise of MRSA, which has threatened to overshadow Labour’s efforts to reform the health service.

Michael Howard, the Tory leader, has made the Government’s record on MRSA a key plank of his pre-election assault on Labour’s stewardship of the NHS, making “cleaner hospitals” one of his five key election pledges.

Mr Reid said that a new two-hour swab test to identify patients with the infection more quickly would be introduced and data on MRSA would be published twice a year.

He will also announce this week that hospitals that cancel operations and fail to offer a new date for surgery will see patients transferred to a different hospital and will have to pay for the operation there.

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