Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, announced that, from next year, hospitals will be required to monitor reported infections of Methicillin Sensitive Staphylococcus Aureus (MSSA) and E. coli which have been rising in recent years.
It is hoped that extending mandatory surveillance will identify the true scale of the problem and lead to improved standards in hospitals as patients start to use this information to make informed decisions about their healthcare. Andrew Lansley said: “Patients deserve the highest standards of care and expect to be kept safe from harm in hospital. We are now publishing weekly MRSA and C. difficile statistics, enabling patients to make an informed decision about where to go for treatment, based on the issues which matter to them. We will extend our system of mandatory reporting in the New Year to include MSSA from January 2011, with others like E.coli to follow in line with expert advice.” Voluntary surveillance figures show that, since 2005, there has been a 37% increase in E. coli bacteraemia reports – and, although the number of MRSA bacteraemias has declined since 2004/5, there has been an increase in MSSA infections from 2000 until 2009. Many of these cases may not be healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs), as people can get both MSSA and E. coli infections away from hospitals. Mandatory surveillance will help to identify origins of infections, and intervene to drive down infections that are occurring in healthcare settings.
