Lib Dems challenge MRSA performance
Nearly two thirds of trusts failed to hit the government's MRSA target, the Liberal Democrats have claimed.
The party compared infection rates for 2007-08 with 2003-04, to see whether the target to halve MRSA rates by March 2008 had been hit.
Their figures contradict official statistics released in July, when the government announced it was within "touching distance" of the target, calculated using quarterly averages.
The Liberal Democrats said it was fairer to compare annual figures rather than quarterly averages because the baseline was the total number of cases in 2003-04.
Liberal Democrat health adviser Rachel Spring said the government's measurement had been "unexpected" and gave the Department of Health "room for manoeuvre".
"No one's disputing there have been improvements but there's still a long way to go," she said.
Last year's public service agreement target requires that the average annual number of MRSA bacteraemias for 2008-09 to 2010-11 should be less than half the 2003-04 figure.
Missed targets
The comprehensive spending review states: "The total number of cases for each year should be below 3,848 (half the 2003-04 baseline)."
The Liberal Democrats' analysis shows 64 per cent of trusts did not meet the target and in 23 trusts MRSA rates rose.
In January, opposition parties accused the DH of moving the deadline for the target to include April to June 2008 figures.
A memo leaked to HSJ last year revealed DH fears that the target was likely to be missed. A spokesman said the target had always been recorded in the same way and needed to use April to June figures to take into account improvements made at the end of March.
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Readers' comments (1)
Derek Butler | 23-Aug-2008 4:13 pm
MRSA Action UK absolutely agree with the stance taken by the Liberal Democrats, and stand by our statement made about the figures on the 15th August 2008 The target has been missed. There are big improvements in many trusts, but there has also been deterioration and not enough effort put into preventing avoidable infections in others. We know that great strides have been made in many hospitals and those staff should be applauded, but a postcode lottery remains and this should be recognised by the Department of Health. Moving the goal posts and ignoring the concerns of the public and patient representatives and stating that publicising the truth is a “breach of trust” is frankly outrageous. If there is any breach of trust this falls on the way the figures were reported when statements were made to say that the NHS were “just short of the target”. Public confidence is at an all time low and this kind of massaging of figures and moving of goal posts does nothing to restore it.
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