MRSA is said to factor in about 2,000 deaths a year in Scotland

A Royal College of Physicians report said a "seek and destroy" plan already happens in many other EU countries.

Patients who could potentially carry the bug would be treated in a separate part of the hospital under the plan.

If implemented, the recommendations would give Scotland the strictest MRSA infection control measures in the UK.

The recommendations came from an expert group set up by two medical professional bodies, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow.

Nasal swabs

Healthcare acquired infections (HAIs), of which MRSA is the main one, are believed to be a factor in nearly 2,000 deaths a year in Scotland, with an estimated annual cost to the NHS of �186m.

However the Scottish Executive said that "virtually all" the recommendations were already being addressed.

An executive spokesman said risk assessment should already be a routine part of the admission process, and a report on the question of screening was expected this summer.

The physicians report insisted that clinical risk assessments should be carried out on all patients admitted to acute units, like medical, surgical and maternity wards, the nature of whose work brings an increased risk of MRSA through wounds or operations.

As both a doctor and a patient I can only offer my strongest support to the recommendations contained within the guidance Dr Gwyneth Jones

It said there should also be targeted surveillance measures, like nasal swabs, for patients at the highest risk of carrying MRSA, like past carriers or those who have recently been in another hospital.

All patients with MRSA risk factors should "as far as is possible" be nursed away from patients not at risk, or free from MRSA, until the results of screening were known.

The report also called for studies into how much it would cost in cash and staff to implement bigger versions of successful local schemes to fight MRSA, like one at a hospital in the Grampian region which cut MRSA rates from 40% to 16% over four years.

At the report's launch in Edinburgh, a hospital consultant who contracted MRSA told of her experience.

Dr Gwyneth Jones gave birth to a son at the then-Simpson Maternity Hospital in Edinburgh in 1998.

She said both her and her son were infected and she became seriously unwell, requiring re-admission for surgery and treatment with stronger antibiotics.

Dr Jones said: "I learned more about MRSA, hospital hygiene and being in isolation during my time as a patient than I did in my formal training - it is an increasing worry for patients, but it is now also a concern for medical and nursing staff.