Positive action taken by St George’s on MRSA

As St George's Hospital has acknowledged to the council's health committee, all deaths are to be regretted and it has a duty to seek ways and means to reduce deaths from whatever cause.

But we, as MP and councillors, have to take care that such matters are not used as a political football.

What Coun Hart's letter omits is the recent positive action taken by St George's Hospital to reduce infection rates for MRSA.

The hospital, this summer, called in the experts from the infection control team at the Department of Health for advice to reduce the hospital's infection rates.

As a consequence, a corporate infection control action plan has been formulated, including an MRSA task force chaired by the chief executive. Early results from this action have led to a current fall in MRSA rates at St George's Hospital, as the committee was informed recently - indeed to some of the lowest in the country.

Our MP was commenting on the recent positive action being taken by St George's to address this situation.

We, for our part, will want the health committee to continue to examine rigorously health officials as it has done for the past three years on this issue to ensure continuous improvements wherever possible, as will Sadiq Khan with the chief executive of St George's Hospital.

Councillors John Farebrother and Rex Osborn
Labour members of the health overview and scrutiny committee