Does hospital cleanliness correlate with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia rates?

Abstract

Publicly available data for all National Health Service hospitals in England were used to examine whether there is a link between hospital cleanliness and rates of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteraemia. It was not possible to demonstrate a consistent relationship between hospital cleanliness, as measured by weighted Patient Environment Action Team (PEAT) scores, and the incidence of MRSA bacteraemia. The large sizes of the data sets make it unlikely that a true correlation was missed. While a high standard of hospital cleanliness is a worthwhile goal, it is not helpful to repeatedly link MRSA control measures with improvements in standards of environmental cleanliness.