Report names hospitals with highest proportions of deaths related to MRSA and C difficile

Numbers of deaths in English and Welsh hospitals involving meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Clostridium difficile vary widely, a new report shows. In several hospitals more than 2% of all deaths were linked to C difficile, and in four hospitals more than 1% of all deaths involved MRSA.

Hospitals with a relatively high number of deaths involving MRSA also tended to have a high number of deaths involving C difficile, but the relation was weak, says the report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The report, which shows numbers of deaths by individual establishment, has data for 217 hospitals and one hospice that had a total of more than 2500 deaths from all causes for the two periods looked at, 2001-5 and 2002-6. These establishments account for more than 80% of the total …