I am delighted to learn that I was wrong to suppose that the misleading figure of a 67 per cent reduction in MRSA was supplied by the hospital's PR department (Oxford Mail, October 13).
I gladly withdraw any implication that it attempted to mislead your readers.
I can only say that, nowadays, most good news seems to come from press conferences called by the organisations concerned.
I was at the annual meeting and copied down the figures projected on the wall by finance director, Chris Hurst. He showed MRSA in 2006/7 as 51. It now seems that it was really 101. I applaud the reduction to 50.
I am surprised that the target for C. Diff cases is as high as 432. I wonder how many of the 440 actual cases in 2007/8 died.
Could Oliver Francis tell us how many of the 440 recovered enough to be discharged from hospital? I wonder how many of the unfortunate remainder had C. Diff mentioned on their death certificate.
I wish now that I had had the courage on September 18 to query the figures projected on the wall at the annual meeting. A lot of confusion might have been avoided.
MICHAEL HUGH-JONES Headley Way Headington Oxford
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