INFECTION rates in patients following surgery at Derriford Hospital are consistently lower than national averages, new figures show.

Health Protection Agency data shows almost all procedures assessed reported an infection rate that was lower than the national average.

Dr Peter Jenks, Derriford consultant medical microbiologist, said: "This is an excellent achievement by staff here at Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust.

"Controlling infection rates amongst our patients is something that we take extremely seriously and it is reassuring for our patients to know that they are on average less likely to suffer from an infection after their surgery here than in the rest of the UK."

Figures cover a wide range of procedures including heart, bowel, spinal, vascular and gastric surgery, limb amputation, hip replacements and caesarean sections.

Infections rates refer to those identified during initial admission or readmission to hospital for the last five years.

Examples include 2.3 per cent for heart bypass compared to 4.9 nationally, 2.8 per cent for limb amputation compared to 7.3 nationally, 5.9 per cent for large bowel surgery compared to 10.5 nationally, and 0.9 per cent for caesareans compared to 5 per cent nationally.

Infection bosses say reasons for the low rate are stringent collecting and measuring of infection data which is fed back to surgical teams allowing them to assess and improve their practice.

Dr Jenks said: "Measuring and reporting infection data is a crucial component of the trust's quality improvement programme and it can help reduce the infection rate after operations by as much as 30 to 40 per cent."

Some surgical procedures that are not compulsorily covered by the scheme, such as Breast Surgery, are voluntarily assessed by the Trust.

Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust is one of very few Trusts in the country that performs in depth surveillance on all the major surgical procedures that it performs.

The figures, from the Surgical Site Infection Surveillance Service (SSISS), a national scheme run by the Health Protection Agency, will be presented to the hospital board today.