Capital is best and worst at tackling MRSA

London hospitals are among the best and the worst in the country for tackling the MRSA bug, according to new figures.

Kingston Hospital has one of the worst performances nationwide, with a rise of 24 cases in 2004/5 and an MRSA infection rate of 0.266 per thousand bed days. A bed day is defined as one person in hospital for one night.

Another poor performer was Essex Rivers Healthcare NHS Trust, which saw cases of the superbug more than double from 16 to 37 - a rate of 0.185.

But some of the most improved hospitals were also in the capital and the South-East, with Moorfields Eye Hospital reporting no cases at all.

The statistics come as a damning Commons report lambasted ministers for failing to ensure best practice across the whole of the NHS. The public accounts committee said there was a "fog of ignorance" surrounding the Government's handling of drug-resistant bugs, which kill at least 5,000 people each year.

In London, the specialist hospitals that saw the biggest drops included Guy's and St Thomas' (down 62 cases), Hammersmith Hospitals (down 44) and King's College Hospital (down 43). General hospitals which saw the biggest reductionsincluded Epsom and St Helier (down 30) and North Middlesex Hospital (down 24).

Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said the figures reflected "the staggering complacency and lack of action by this Government in tackling hospital-acquired infections".