JANE Hutt today urged commitment from everyone in-volved in delivering healthcare in Wales in the battle against hospital-acquired infections.

The Assembly health minister launched a £260,000 strategy on the issue at Newport's Royal Gwent Hospital, warning that while such infections will never be entirely preventable, measures can be taken to reduce their spread.

Gwent Healthcare Trust is spearheading the battle against superbugs such as MRSA (methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus).

In July the Argus exclusively reported that the number of patients who caught the potentially fatal infection in Gwent hospitals fell by almost a fifth last year.

Dr Neil Carbarns, the trust's lead infection control doctor, said the result reflected a substantial increase in resources in recent times.

"Infection control is everybody's business. We have been able to do much more work with a bigger team and our results reflect this," he said.

"Nobody denies that things are not perfect and given the capacity of superbugs to become resistant to measures designed to wipe them out, I don' think things ever will be.

"But there's a great deal being done to minimise the risks, and a lot more we can do."

More education for NHS staff and clearer lines of accountability within NHS trusts are two of the aims of the Assembly's strategy, but simple improvement of hand hygiene measures, such as staff - and patients - washing their hands regularly, and providing the facilities for them to do so are vital, too.

According to the Health Protection Agency, there were around 350 cases of MRSA in Wales in 2003.

In Gwent, results are encouraging. There were 55 cases of hospital-acquired MRSA last year, compared to 67 in 2002/03. The Gwent average is 76 cases per 1,000,000 bed days, compared to an all-Wales average of 113 cases and an English average of 170 cases.

"Controlling the spread of infection can only be achieved if all healthcare workers play their part," said Jane Hutt. "This strategy requires commitment from everyone involved, across the healthcare community, and we will be monitoring its implementation closely."