The Government’s target of halving MRSA infections in four years has been reached, latest figures show, with the number of cases in England falling by a third in the past year alone.

The Health Protection Agency said yesterday that since 2004 there had been a 57 per cent reduction in the number of infections.

In an open letter to NHS staff, Gordon Brown thanked them for the “tremendous achievement” in infection control.

The improvement comes after a government drive to “deep clean” all NHS hospitals that was announced last September and completed in March.

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The timing of the announcement may attract sneers. But the overall decline is a tremendous achievement

David Rose

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The agency’s quarterly report showed that 836 bloodstream infections caused by MRSA - methicillin-resistant Staphyloccocus aureus - were reported in England from April to June, compared with 969 in the previous quarter and 1,306 in the same period last year.The figures also showed a 32 per cent decline in another hospital-acquired infection, Clostridium difficile, over the past year.

In 2003-04, when the target was set for March 2008, an average of 1,925 MRSA infections were recorded per quarter. Deaths relating to MRSA fell slightly last year to 1,593 – the first time that fatalities had fallen in a year since records began in 1993.

The target of halving MRSA infections, set by John Reid, the Health Secretary at the time, had been seen as unachievable in some quarters, including within the Department of Health.

Documents leaked last year showed that there was serious concern that it would be missed, and the Government was accused of giving itself a three-month extension by measuring the target by the second quarter of this year.

But Peter Borriello, director of the agency’s Centre for Infections, said that the falls in MRSA rates showed the “huge efforts” being made by NHS staff to tackle infections. “The next challenge for the NHS will be to ensure that the downward trend continues and that we move to a position of zero tolerance,” he said. “Of course, not all cases are preventable but if the fight against healthcare-associated infections is to be won, it is vital that the measures that have achieved this significant success remain in place.”

Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, said: “Our strategy for tackling infection is clearly delivering results. But we are certainly not complacent and we won’t stop here.”

Andrew Lansley, the Shadow Health Secretary, said that it was a disgrace that there were more than 800 cases of MRSA in three months. He criticised the Government for publishing the positive data to coincide with the Labour Party conference in three days’ time.

“They have only met their MRSA target by moving the goalposts and the best they could come up with to tackle this massive problem have been gimmicks such as Gordon Brown’s deep-cleaning programme,” he said.

MRSA and C. difficile are carried by some healthy people, but the bacteria can cause illness when they grow unchecked. Elderly hospital patients are particularly at risk.

Rates of MRSA are also falling in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and they have remained steady in Wales.

Anna Walker, the chief executive of the Healthcare Commission, said the figures were a big success, but there were some trusts that “don’t have all the necessary systems in place to fight outbreaks if they do occur and some are falling far short of targets to reduce rates of MRSA”.

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