Hundreds of lives have been saved by Australian hospitals that have managed to slash the number of people catching infectious bugs while in care.

However, rates still vary widely between hospitals, leading the National Health Performance Authority to warn hospitals with higher rates that they should learn from those where infection rates are in some cases up to three times lower.

"Between 200 and 400 fewer deaths per year": Peter Collignon. Credit:Leon Tetlow

The latest figures from the authority, released Thursday, show the number of people developing serious blood infections caused by the potentially deadly "golden staph" bug fell by 6 per cent in the last financial year. This includes cases of the "superbug" MRSA, which is resistant to commonly used antibiotics.

Two of the four hospitals that failed to meet national benchmarks on infection rates were located in NSW, with St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney and Calvary Mater in Newcastle both exceeding the limit of two infections for every 10,000 days spent by patients in hospital beds.