A COLLECTIVE sigh of relief was breathed this week as Health Secretary Dr John Reid announced hospitals were winning the battle against the potentially fatal disease MRSA.

Reporter Hannah Swingler investigated whether these national statistics ring true with local hospitals.

"We are beginning to see results in the battle against MRSA in our hospitals." announced Dr John Reid this week.

According to the Health Secretary, figures showed a 6.3 percent reduction in new cases of methicillian resistant Staphylococcus aureus compared to the same period last year.

However, while the debate rages over this contentious issue it seems evidence taken from local research backs this claim up.

Last week the Gazette reported cases of the "hospital superbug" found in Frenchay and Southmead Hospitals have dramatically fallen over a three year period.

North Bristol NHS Trust which runs the two hospitals confirmed a study by the Department of Health's surveillance system revealed between April 2001 and March 2004 the number of MRSA cases had dropped from 144 to 88.

Spokesperson for North Bristol NHS Trust, Juliet Armstrong, said the strict cleanliness at both hospitals and hygiene policies have been praised by the Clean Hospitals Initiative, which awarded a score of 95 percent - just one percent off an excellent rating.

She said: "In particular, the trust has been spotlighted by the National Audit Office for its effective use of modern matrons in establishing infection control audits for wards and departments.

"Staff have also led a project, supported by the Department of Health, to create a series of 'audit tools' for monitoring standards."

United Bristol NHS trust also confirmed despite a rise in numbers of the superbug between April 2001 and March 2003 there had been a recent drop in figures.

A spokesperson confirmed since March 2003 patients struck by the bug had fallen by a quarter. She said: "We are very pleased with this reduction, which has been achieved through a rolling programme of infection prevention measures and commitment from staff across the trust. We will be extending and broadening this programme throughout 2005 to continue driving MRSA rates down."

GLOUCESTERSHIRE Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust runs Gloucester Royal, Cheltenham General and Delancey Hospital, Cheltenham.

The Trust has welcomed league tables published this week detailing the rates of MRSA bloodstream infection, which shows it has the 41st lowest rate nationally, out of 110 acute NHS trusts.

Dr Robert Jackson, Director of Infection, Prevention and Control, said: "The figures show that the Trust still has a low rate of infection for the period from April 2004 to September 2004. Because of the way the Department of Health have presented the information it makes it look like the Trust is not doing as well as before. I am not convinced that the rate of MRSA bacteraemias is genuinely on the increase as one can only deduce this by studying long term trends. Looking back to April 2001 one can see that there is a certain amount of fluctuation in the numbers of actual infections detected in any half-year period. The number of infections in the Trust is quite small and a small change in a six month period can have a marked effect on a trust's ranking. This is a feature of the way the statistics have been done.

"The Trust still has a low rate of MRSA bloodstream infections. We would ask people not to read too much into these figures as what is more important is long term trends. It is early days since the Department of Health set targets for Trusts to reduce levels of MRSA. As the Trust already had low rates of MRSA bacteraemias it was always going to be difficult to reduce them still further.

"The Trust is committed to preventing as many healthcare associated infections as possible and safeguarding patient safety. It has been at the forefront of the Trust's agenda to implement important infection control campaigns, such as the Clean Your Hands Campaign and we are working on local implementation of other important initiatives such as Towards Cleaner Hospitals and Lower Rates of Infection and the Matron's Charter. However, It is too soon to see if these have had an effect yet on rates of healthcare associated infection locally."