MRSA is causing fear and concern among patients across Britain as hospitals try to battle the potentially deadly superbug. Now it has been revealed south-east London has the worst infection rates in England and health bosses are getting together to tackle the problem. Toby Nation takes a closer look.

BEING treated in a hospital is never an experience to look forward to but the seemingly unstoppable rise of MRSA left many people afraid.

All over the UK the growth of infections has raised issues over the perceived state of the NHS and about the cleanliness of our hospitals.

Lewisham Hospital, identified as having the second-worst record in the country, has come in for plenty of high-profile coverage over the superbug.

In September last year the hospital was targeted by an undercover reporter from the Daily Mirror posing as a porter who claimed the superbug was "ripping the heart out of every ward".

But despite the Department of Health figures the high street hospital has been at the forefront of tackling the growing crisis.

It pioneered the Clean Your Hands scheme, introducing anti-bacterial alcohol handwash beside every bed and at the entrance to each ward.

It is also leading the way with a screening programme which sees every A&E admission tested for MRSA to ensure appropriate action can be taken immediately.

Despite screening, Lewisham's bosses admit keeping infection rates down in a Victorian-built hospital is a challenge but one it thought it was winning.

However Woolwich's Queen Elizabeth, a new hospital built in 2001, is also struggling after ranking third from bottom in the Department of Health list released last week.

Add into the mix Bexley's Queen Mary's, England's worst hospital for MRSA, and health bosses are now worried there is a problem in the three boroughs. Some are asking whether there is a high infection rate in the community itself.

Screening of re-operative and vulnerable patients at Queen Elizabeth Hospital has found nearly half have the superbug on their skin on admission.

Figures produced by Lewisham's support this, showing up to 40 per cent of elderly patients coming into the hospital from care homes have MRSA on their skin.

This has raised fears nursing homes may be a breeding ground for the superbug or some other element in the community is triggering the high rates of infection seen in the area.

Katherine Murphy, from the Lewisham Patients' Association which backs the hospital's efforts, said: "It is clear there has to be a wider understanding of MRSA and find out whether it is endemic in certain areas. The hospitals alone can't be blamed if people are carrying it in the community prior to hospital admission."

In fact, of Lewisham's 60 cases of blood infected by MRSA last year, a third of patients were carrying the superbug on their skin on arrival.

Dr Rachel Heathcock, a consultant in communicable disease control with the South East London Health Protection Unit hopes the meeting of south-east London's hospital bosses this week will be step toward solving the riddle of why the region has been hit so hard by the killer superbug.

She said: "We don't know exactly how much MRSA infection rates within the community, affect the hospital figures.

"The fact that these three trusts are showing an upward trend has been the trigger to ask what is going on?' "It is not going to be easy and some big studies will have to be involved."