Gordon Brown praises hospital infection progress

Responding to MPs in Parliament, the PM said that recorded cases of MRSA had fallen 18 percent and C.difficile by 21 percent compared to the previous quarter. An injection of Ј50 million since June 2007 was proving effective in inspecting hospitals and implementing hygeine controls, he added.

The PM said that a number of measures were having a positive effect, including the doubling of hospital matrons to 5,000 and pre-emptive screening for signs of infection.

The latest figures were released earlier today by the Health Protection Agency. Dr Georgia Duckworth, head of the agency's Infection Department, said the fall in MRSA was a "major achievement against the seemingly unstoppable rise that we saw throughout the 1990s".
Source: By 10 Downing Street