Hospitals failing to enforce MRSA controls

Shoddy practice and widely varying standards of cleanliness around the country were revealed in the survey, the association said. More than half of hospital doctors and more than a third of nurses did not clean their hands between treating patients and only 44 per cent of new admissions were screened for MRSA.

A total of 22 out of 28 strategic health authorities reported the youngest patient with MRSA to be less than a week old.

The findings were to have been put to Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, at a conference today but Ms Hewitt told the organisers she could not attend.

Simon Williams, policy director of the association, said: "After months of negotiation she pulled out at the last minute. We are trying to get someone to rattle the NHS's cage. There is nothing wrong with the policies [on hospital cleanliness and infection control] coming out of the health department but they are not being implemented."

The report, published today at a follow-up meeting to the association's Clean Hospital summit earlier this year, comes after a survey was sent to every NHS trust in England.

In the 229 replies received, most respondents said their trust was working to tackle rates of hospital-acquired infections. But their commitment to the task varied widely, as did access to cleaning services: two-thirds of trusts in south-west England lacked 24-hour cover.