The local hospitals have had very different experiences in dealing with the MRSA super bug, local MP Vincent Cable reveals.

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.

Over the three years between April 2001 and April 2004, the number of MRSA cases have been

• West Mid 32, 41, 34
• Kingston 23, 42, 26
• Hammersmith 89, 115, 125
• Guys & St Thomas 114, 154, 166
• Ashford 60, 65, 44

Dr 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 bed days and only 1.4 per 10,000 at Kingston - but the consequences are such that even this is too high."

More about MRSA

Friday, July 16, 2004

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