ELDERLY patients stand more chance of contracting superbugs because of overcrowding at some Greater Manchester hospitals, it was claimed yesterday.

Hospitals with bed occupancy rates over 85 per cent carry the highest risk and include hospitals in Manchester, Salford and Stockport.

According to Liberal Democrats figures, more than half of NHS trusts nationally have high bed occupancy rates - and this is known to significantly contribute to the spread of hospital superbugs such as MRSA, they claim.

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said the `extraordinary' rise in MRSA cases showed the government's strategy to deal with superbugs is failing.

"The government's drive to cut waiting times at all costs conflicts with the absolute priority of cutting infection rates," he said.

"The simple truth is that, in hospitals where beds are filled to bursting point, nurses are not able to isolate patients and clean wards to beat the bugs."

The latest figures show Salford Royal Hospital Trust has the highest bed occupancy rates in the area, at 90.6 per cent, with Stockport and South Manchester University Trust both at around 86 per cent.

Christie Hospital also has a bed occupancy rate of about 86 per cent but has historically low rates of MRSA. In contrast, Trafford hospitals are on 63.9 per cent.

Crowded

The Department of Health has admitted that the most crowded hospitals, with occupancy rates over 90 per cent, have superbug rates that are more than 42 per cent higher than average.

Even those with occupancy rates above 85 per cent have 16 per cent more MRSA cases. The Liberal Democrats are now calling for an urgent investigation into the connection between high levels of antibiotic use and rates of hospital-acquired infections.

The Department of Health said the risk of contracting MRSA was low.

"The NHS treats a million people every 36 hours and there were approximately 7,000 MRSA bloodstream infections last year," a spokesman said.

"The NHS is working hard to treat more patients and this means it needs to work even harder to reduce the risk of infection.

"Guidance was issued in the Chief Medical Officer's Winning Ways report, which required chief executives to ensure infection control teams work with bed managers to optimise bed use while implementing procedures to minimise the risk of infection."

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