THE list of MRSA rates across England’s 173 NHS hospital trusts show wide variations in how hospitals are coping with the superbug.

The list, which will be published every six months, is divided into three categories of hospital: general acute, specialist and single speciality.

Specialist centres, which often receive patients who have already been to another hospital, are more likely to have a higher MRSA rate, which shows the incidence of the superbug for every 1,000 bed days. Single speciality hospitals often have lower rates because of the types of illness they treat and the fewer referrals from other hospitals.

The overall number of cases over the six months from April to September 2004 shows a 6 per cent drop on the period in the previous year, but regional breakdowns make for less comforting reading.

London hospitals experienced the greatest improvement — from 819 cases to 654 — but outbreaks in the North East, East, South East and North West rose. In the worst case, the East, there were 49 more cases, a rise of 16 per cent.

Of the 110 general acute hospital trusts, Southport and Ormskirk Hospital, on Merseyside, came out best after reporting only two outbreaks in the six months to September 2004. The trust’s MRSA rate was calculated at 0.02.

Second was Bedford Hospitals, with a rate of 0.03, followed by Homerton Hospital, in East London, Isle of Wight Healthcare, and Rotherham General Hospitals in South Yorkshire.

The worst general hospital was Barnet and Chase Farm, in North London, with 60 outbreaks and an MRSA rate of 0.35. Other poor performers include James Paget Healthcare in Norfolk (0.32) and Princess Alexandra Hospital (0.30).

Of the specialist hospitals, which tend to have higher rates of hospital-acquired infection because patients have often been referred from other trusts, North Hampshire Hospitals NHS Trust was best (0.06), followed by Liverpool Women’s Hospital (0.07) and University College London Hospitals. The poorest rates appeared in Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Trust (0.38), which had five outbreaks. Brighton & Sussex University Hospitals and University Hospital Birmingham NHS Trust both had a rate of 0.37, with 70 and 65 outbreaks respectively.

Six single specialty hospital trusts suffered no MRSA cases at all. They were Birmingham Women’s Healthcare, Moorfields Eye Hospital, Royal Marsden Hospital, Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, Royal Orthopaedic Hospital and Sheffield Children’s Hospital.

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