Full scale of superbug crisis

The scale of the challenge facing NHS workers struggling to keep hospital wards free of the deadly MRSA superbug is exposed today by an Evening Standard investigation.

An independent scientist carried out tests in five major hospitals amid growing concern about standards of hygiene in the Health Service.

He found "appalling levels" of the bug, revealing a "shocking neglect" of basic hygiene procedures.

Our investigation comes as the Government announced it is stepping up efforts to combat the bug. Health Secretary John Reid has appointed a new Chief Nursing Officer, whose priority will be hospital hygiene.

He also launched the "Matron's Charter" - an action plan for cleaner hospitals.

Hospital-acquired infections like MRSA strike some 100,000 people each year in England, resulting in an estimated 5,000 deaths. MRSA alone is thought to be responsible for at least 800 of these.

But despite widespread publicity given to the bug, our investigation found:

MRSA expert Dr Chris Malysz ewicz said : "These were some of the worst results I have ever seen. Anybody doubting the filthy state of our hospitals has only to look at the findings of these tests."

British hospitals have one of the poorest MRSA rates in Europe. Only Greece's hospitals have higher levels of the bug.

The Government has poured ?1 billion a year into battling the bug, but staff and patients still appear to be ignoring basic procedures such as washing properly-before entering wards. Experts say it cannot be eradicated, but can be brought within safe minimum levels.

During the investigation, Dr Malyszewicz took swabs from a variety of surfaces in the common areas of each hospital - all exposed to daily contact with staff and patients. The swabs were incubated in Dr Malyszewicz's laboratory for 48 hours, giving them time to develop the MRSA present in the hospitals.

Dr Malyszewicz, who has a doctorate in environmental sciences and has been working in microbiology and disinfection for 14 years, says a rate of 0.5 colony forming units (the units which pass on infection) of MRSA per square centimetre is the maximum safe level.

Anything over this is unacceptable. The highest levels we found were 20 cfu per sq cm - "a totally appalling level". Two out of three samples from the hospitals showed no sign of detergents, proving the surfaces-they were collected from had not been cleaned in the past 48 hours.

Even where traces of detergent were detected, they were of such "cheap and second-rate" quality that they were powerless to eradicate germs which cause hospital superbugs.

"The scores for two of the hospitals, in particular, were horrific," he said.

"Despite all the publicity about MRSA, it seems the message has still not got through to hospital staff. We saw an appalling lack of basic hygiene that affected everybody from the cleaning staff to the consultants.

"Few people bothered to wash their hands before entering wards, there were hardly any disinfectant dispensers and rubbish bags were left to clutter corridors. How many more deaths must it take for the NHS to address this issue?"

MRSA victim Tony Field, who lost a leg after contracting the bug and now runs a support group for fellow sufferers, said: "I cannot say I am surprised. Hospitals in the South-East seem to be the least clean. They are still in a state of denial. They have not addressed the basic problem which is that there are not enough cleaners to do the job."

The hospitals we tested admitted MRSA is a challenge, but insisted they are doing more to tackle it.

A spokeswoman for North Middlesex said an additional £600,000 was being spent on fighting the bug, adding that nine patients had contracted MRSA this year a compared with 26 last year. Hammersmith Hospital said they took "serious issue" with Dr Malyszewicz's methodology, but added: "We take the issue of infection control and MRSA very seriously and have continuous training and assessment campaigns.

"That MRSA is present in hospital is undeniable - that's why we have alcoholic gel available on all our wards."

A spokesman for University College Hospital said it employed 10 infection control nurses.