The number of reports of meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteraemia recorded at the City Hospitals Sunderland National Health Service Foundation Trust, County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals NHS Trust and the North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust from April 2004 to September 2006 is shown in the table.
Acute hospital trust April 2004-March 2005 April 2005-March 2006 April-September 2006 City Hospitals Sunderland 47 47 22 North Tees and Hartlepool 13 30 21 County Durham and Darlington 47 36 29 Note: Information on MRSA bacteraemia in individual hospitals is not published routinely, as it has only been collected at hospital level since October 2005. Prior to this date numbers of MRSA bacteraemia were recorded six-monthly by NHS acute trust only. The Department and the Health Protection Agency are currently considering the publication of the more detailed data, gained through the enhanced recording system. Source: Health Protection Agency (HPA)
Tackling MRSA is a priority for both the Government and the NHS. A target has been set to halve the number of MRSA bloodstream infections by 2008 with each NHS acute trust having its own target to achieve. The latest data showing MRSA numbers between January to September 2006 were published by the HPA on 30 January 2007.