MP criticises Government over hospital superbugs

The MP for Gainsborough claims the Government has no idea how many people are dying from hospital bugs - other than the notorious MRSA and C-diff infections.

In his role as chairman of the House of Commons's Public Accounts Committee, Edward Leigh has praised the efforts of hospital trusts that have led to falls in MRSA and C-diff cases.

But a report compiled by the committee accuses the Department of Health of not having any robust data of the risks of at least 80 per cent of bugs linked to hospital care.

Gainsborough's Tory MP said: "This is the third time that this committee has reported on the subject and it is disappointing that the Department of Health still has not taken on board a number of key recommendations.

"The department has achieved significant reductions in MRSA bloodstream and C-diff infections, for which it set national targets.

"But, in so doing, it has taken its eye off the ball regarding all other healthcare associated infections which actually constitute most, by far, of all infections."

While hospital trusts only have a duty to publish MRSA and C-diff rates, members of the board at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust requested last year that the rates of two lesser-known superbugs should be made known to the public.

For just two months ULHT published the figures on the number of patients suffering from ESBL and MSSA – the sister bug of MRSA – in their hospitals.

But after the Echo revealed there were 17 cases of ESBL at hospital sites in Lincoln, Grantham, Boston and Louth in April and May 2008, compared to 10 reports of MRSA, the figures were pulled as there is no Government requirement to publish them.

Spokesman for ULHT Anna Temple said that all hospital acquired infections are reported to the independent Health Protection Agency.

"We monitor the rates of a wide range of infections within our trust continuously and we regularly review cases," she said.