NEW cases of the superbug MRSA in East Lancashire hospitals have fallen.

Latest figures released by the Health Protection Agency show that for the East Lancashire NHS Trust - which covers the Royal Blackburn, Burnley General, Pendle Community and Rossendale hospitals - there were 17 new infections in the last financial year.

In the previous year, there were 28 MRSA infections while in 2006-07 there were 67 infections.

Infections of C. Difficile have been dropping in each quarter since April 2007, from a high of 141 to a low of 38 infections in October to December 2008.

But the latest results from January to March 2009 show an increase to 62 new infections.

The Trust say that this is down to a small outbreak in March and April in some wards of The Royal Blackburn Hospital.

Rineke Schram, medical director and infection control lead at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “The Department of Health target was to halve MRSA rates between 2003/4 and 2007/8, and we achieved that. This was followed by a further 45 per cent reduction in MRSA bacteraemias in 2008/2009.

“For C. Difficile, the national target was a 10 per cent reduction by 2010/2011, and we have already achieved that, more than a year ahead of schedule.

“We had a small increase in cases earlier this year, but everyone in the trust worked very hard and now we are back to our previous strong performance.

“Despite having performed so well against the government targets, we have tightened our own trust targets again this year, because a single case of infection is always too many.

“We are working hard to ensure that we do not become complacent, and that our infection rates continue to improve.”

The Trust has to meet strict government targets for the control of infections and have carried out deep-clean programmes and hand-washing schemes.

Trusts must meet national standards set by the Care Quality Commission or face fines, prosecution or even closure.