I was shocked to read your headline, Cases of MRSA shrink by 67 per cent (Oxford Mail, September 19).

I say shocked because the previous night, I and some 90 other members of the public had attended the annual meeting of the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust.

At that meeting, the finance director, Chris Hurst, showed a slide with figures, including annual cases of MRSA "2006 — 51, 2007 — 50" — a reduction year on year of just about two per cent, not 67 per cent.

I realise that the 67 per cent figure was obtained by comparing the second quarter of 2008 with the same period of 2007. I can only suppose that it was supplied by the hospitals' PR department. It is not actually untrue, but it is definitely misleading.

Perhaps more alarming were the figures Mr Hurst showed for that other infection, C Diff.

The figures were 36 per MONTH in both 2006 and 2007 — in other words, no improvement year on year.

No figures for infections are to be found in the glossy leaflet called Annual Review 2008, which we were given, though it does have lots of other factual information.

The only mention is on the purple page, headed 'Getting better at what we do'.

There it says: "The trust has also performed well against its quality targets, notably those relating to infection control."

I seem to recall the Prime Minister praising big reductions in hospital infections, not just two per cent.

MICHAEL HUGH-JONES Headley Way Headington Oxford