'Goalposts moved' over MRSA figures

The Government was accused of dirty tricks today after newdetails emerged of how it plans to hit a controversial MRSA target.

The Liberal Democrats and Tories hit out after it emerged theGovernment was taking into account reductions in the MRSA rateincluding the first quarter of 2008/2009.

In 2004, former health secretary John Reid said the Governmentwould halve rates of MRSA by the end of March 2008.

But the Government has confirmed it will measure whether it hashit the target by looking at figures for April to June 2008.

It argues that using data prior to the end of March would measurea period before the target deadline. Shadow health secretary AndrewLansley said the Government was moving the goalposts.

He argued it was "no coincidence" that the time frame it hadselected was after hospitals finish their deep clean programme.

He added: "This is yet another example of the Governmentcongratulating itself while ignoring the detail. They have to stopmoving the goalposts to dishonestly meet their own targets."

A Department of Health spokesman said: "This new data from theHPA shows that we are on course to hit the challenging target we setback in 2004 and this is down to the hard work of NHS staff."