THE chief executive of the entire NHS chatted with patients in Rotherham - as new figures revealed hospitals in South Yorkshire have some of the lowest levels of MRSA superbug infections in the country.
According to Health Protection Agency data, the county's hospitals each experienced fewer than 10 cases of the potentially deadly infection between April and June this year.
NHS Chief Executive David Nicholson dropped in on Rotherham Hospital - which had just two cases of MRSA - to congratulate staff and meet patients including 79-year-old Grace Hartley.
The organisation has cut the number of MRSA and clostridium difficile infections by over 30 per cent each year for the last three years.
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which manages the city's Hallamshire, Northern General, Weston Park, Charles Clifford and Jessop Wing hospitals, recorded six MRSA infections over the three-month period.
Sheffield Children's Hospital had no cases of MRSA, Barnsley recorded five, and Doncaster and Bassetlaw had two.
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The full article contains 211 words and appears in Sheffield Star newspaper.