The response from St Mary's Hospital

A spokeswoman from St Mary's Hospital said: 'We think we are doing a good job and have made progress this year. Our biggest ultrasound machine was bought in March 1995, but we have had new kit in the department as recently as this year. Last year we installed a rotational angiography machine, the first of its kind in the country.

'Our sterilisation machine did break in 1999 and was replaced with a £140,000 machine this August. During that time, our instruments were sent to St Thomas's Hospital, but many hospitals send their instruments off-site to be sterilised. I cannot comment on individual cases, but there was an issue with St Thomas's which we took up with them. The problem with the instruments in question was spotted before they were used. 'With regard to waiting times, our latest figures indicate that ultrasound waiting times are now six weeks, CT scans 12 weeks and MRI scans four months.

'Earlier this year, the hospital was designated a "problemî in the NHS cleanliness league, but following a £1.6 million grant from the local health authority to invest in support services such as cleaning, we have made a real difference, and had our environmental status upgraded as a result.

'Figures on MRSA will be published next year. Of the 33 trusts in the region, St Mary's is in the middle. Hospital-acquired infections are unfortunate but something the whole NHS is battling with.'

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