Shock at levels of hospital superbug

Levels of the killer superbug MRSA have grown in some London hospitals, the Standard can reveal today.

We carried out checks three months apart at six hospitals. There was MRSA at all of them and after the latest tests we found higher levels at Great Ormond Street children's hospital and St Mary's, Paddington, despite a Government cleanliness drive.

Microbiologist Chris Malyszewicz, who carried out the tests for the Evening Standard, said he was "shocked and worried" at the lack of improvement. He swabbed stair-rails, lavatory handles and lift buttons.

Overall levels dropped at St Thomas' Hospital, Middlesex Hospital and the Chelsea and Westminster - with no change recorded at the private Cromwell Hospital.

A reading of four colonies per square centimetre would put patients at high risk if they touched that surface and some results had double that number.

All of the hospitals tested had at least one swab with a reading of four or more, except St Thomas' and the Cromwell.

The floor in the men's lavatory on the second floor at the Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mother Wing at St Mary's Hospital had a reading of 9.8 and a patient trolley on the second floor had 6.7 colonies.

One swab of the flush handle in the male lavatory next to reception at Great Ormond Street read 8.7.

But experts there said each child was tested for the organism before admission and the number picking it up once admitted had dropped to just 20 last year.

We found only Chelsea and Westminster Hospital had introduced measures to halt MRSA, by removing clinical waste bins from near the entrance to wards.

The tests were carried out in September and again this month, when we found the hand-disinfectant dispensers at the entrances to wards at St Thomas' Hospital were still empty.

Cleaning staff at St Mary's were using the same watered-down disinfectant. Trolleys in corridors there were covered in blood and other fluids.

At the Middlesex, clinical-waste bins had been removed from the entrance to the café ¯n the ground floor but were still in public corridors. We also saw surgical gloves had fallen out of an over-full bin.

Mr Malyszewicz criticised the Government for placing an executive in charge of curbing superbug infection at every NHS trust, saying they were just pen-pushers.

He said: "What we need is more of the infection-control nurses. We should try to get back the old pride cleaners had when matron was responsible."

A spokesman for Great Ormond Street said it "receives many patients who have been in other hospitals, who are particularly weak or sick, who may have problems with their immune system, or who have had a number of invasive-procedures, all of which makes them more vulnerable to infection. Despite this we have the second-lowest rate of MRSA in north London hospitals.

"We are not complacent and constantly seek to improve."

A spokesman for St Mary's Hospital said: "Combating MRSA is an ongoing challenge. Infection rates at St Mary's are dropping in areas where we care for our most vulnerable patients, thanks to the commitment of our dedicated infectioncontrol team and clinical staff.

"However, it is unrealistic to think that our public areas will ever be MRSA-free. The best way to stop bacteria spreading is good personal hygiene. Patients and visitors have a role to play too."