WARRINGTON Hospital has announced it has hit its target for beating MRSA, with 12 cases since April 2008.

The nationally set target for Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was 12 and bosses say infection rates have fallen by 64 per cent in two years.

In 2007/08 there were 18 MRSA infections at the hospital, and 33 the year prior to that.

The target for next year is eight hospital acquired cases of MRSA, bosses said.

In the last year new procedures to stop MRSA have been put in place, including screening for all patients having planned surgery.

This means patients who are naturally colonised with the germ can be identified in advance and given special treatment.

A ‘bare below the elbow’ policy for staff has also been implemented.

Cases of Clostridium difficile, or C-diff, have also fallen according to bosses.

There were 112 hospital acquired cases last year, or around nine per month.

In 2007/08 there were 372 cases, or 31 a month.

Catherine Beardshaw, chief executive of the trust, said: “We hope that meeting our challenging target around MRSA numbers is a sign to local people about the improvements we have made at their hospitals.

“We have been working incredibly hard to meet these targets with our partners.

“We’ve made good progress and now have a low level of infection but we can still reduce the levels further and that is our aim for this year.”

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