ISOLATING intensive care patients infected with MRSA does not stop the hospital superbug spreading, according to new research published today. The practice is one of the main strategies used by Scottish hospitals to try to stop MRSA cases infecting other patients. But a study in medical journal The Lancet suggests the policy makes no difference to transmission rates - at least as far as intensive care patients are concerned. The news comes the day after health chiefs were accused of covering up the fact that Lothian grandmother Ina Boyd, 76, died after contracting MRSA at the city’s Western General hospital. The study highlighted the failure of staff to wash their hands often enough in the hospitals involved as a possible cause of the problem. Dr Peter Wilson, from University College London Hospital, led the research at his hospital and the Royal Free Hospital.
