Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) colonisation can lead to invasive infection and subsequently harm to patients. The prevalence of MRSA within care homes is poorly understood and, thus, the benefits of implementing a decolonisation regimen across a number of care homes was previously unknown. However, the MRSA prevalence surveillance outlined in this article showed that by proactively identifying MRSA carriers and decolonising residents, levels of MRSA fell from 10.2% in the first prevalence, to 6.8% in the second. The authors concluded that this simple strategy has the potential to reduce MRSA burden and patient harm.