A HOSPITAL is being held up as an example to the rest of the country for the way it screens for MRSA.

The Department of Health is so impressed with measures Lewisham Hospital has taken to reduce levels of the superbug, it is recommending all NHS trusts follow suit.

Faced with high MRSA rates, the hospital began screening all adult emergency and non-emergency admissions for the bug in October 2004.

Until then only those most at risk from MRSA - the elderly and those previously diagnosed with the infection - were screened on arrival at the Lewisham High Street site.

Doctors at the hospital believed they would have more chance of controlling and treating the infection if they knew exactly who had it before they reached a ward.

MRSA, an organism which can cause fatal infections, is passed more easily between people who are ill and is resistant to commonly-used antibiotics.

For the past three months, nobody has picked up the deadly infection while staying at the hospital.

Between April 2001 and September last year, more than 220 people caught the infection while being treated there.

A Clean Your Hands campaign, which has seen handwash placed by every patient's bed, has also been implemented at the hospital.

Consultant microbiologist Dr Gopal Rao was part of the team which implemented the changes.

He said: "People were being missed by selective screening so we thought the best thing to do was test them all.

"If we know exactly who has MRSA then the chances of them passing it on to someone else is 15 times lower than if we did not know.

"What we know about we can control and we are thrilled other trusts are being advised to do the same."

Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich has been testing all its inpatients for the past two years.

A spokesman said: "We have already taken on some of the initiatives Lewisham Hospital has been pursuing and the result of this is a reduction in the MRSA rate from 41 cases to 21 cases in a year."