What is MRSA?
MRSA is a type of bacteria that is resistant to some antibiotics.
A healthy person can carry MRSA on their skin and it won't harm them. But if MRSA gets into the blood stream of a weaker person, perhaps if they have had surgery or are recovering from an illness, it can cause infection.
MRSA can be treated with a range of different antibiotics in line with the national UK guidelines.
The rate of MRSA infection is measured in a standard way across all UK hospitals. It is measured by dividing the number of cases of MRSA blood infection by the total number of days that all of our patients have been in hospital, called the number of bed days.
How we keep our MRSA rate so low
We work very hard to reduce the risk of MRSA and other infections in our hospitals.
- All our hospitals have a very high proportion of single rooms.
- We train all Spire Healthcare staff in exceptional hand hygiene to minimise any risk of cross-infection.
- We make sure our wards, corridors and surfaces are regularly and thoroughly cleaned. We believe this is very important so we employ our own cleaners rather than an outside company.
- We screen all patients who are at risk from MRSA before we admit them to our hospitals, in-line with best practice.
- We use operating theatres with laminar air flow, an air filter system, for all major orthopaedic operations.
- We have a national head of infection control and every Spire Healthcare hospital has an infection control lead member of staff.
Best practice
- We screen our patients in-line with the MRSA screening recommendations from the Joint Working Party of the British Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, the Hospital Infection Society and Infection Control Nurses Association.
More information on MRSA rates in the UK
