Experts say taking swabs could cut hospital stays and save lives

NHS Quality Improvement Scotland has called for a �2m one-year pilot to see how the screening could be implemented.

Swabs for the superbug, which is carried on the skin, would be taken as soon as a patient was admitted.

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon has expressed a commitment to introducing an MRSA screening programme.

Research found that screening could prevent infections, save lives and lead to shorter hospital stays.

MRSA is a bug that has become resistant to most antibiotics.

However, it is carried harmlessly on the skin by about 52 million people worldwide, only becoming a problem when it enters the body through a wound.

The source of MRSA is not hospitals, it is the human body Sir Graham Teasdale NHS QIS Chairman

Every year hundreds of people contract MRSA, which proves fatal for some and slows down the recovery of others, leaving them scarred and disabled.

The NHS QIS study into MRSA screening found that routine testing of patients on admission to hospital could significantly reduce infection rates, isolating those found to be carrying the bacterium so that they can be treated.

NHS QIS Chairman, Sir Graham Teasdale, conceded that implementing a screening programme without causing disruption to the hospital would be a challenge

'Save lives'

He said: "The source of MRSA is not hospitals, it is the human body.

"The main reservoir for infection is on our own skin. By identifying those people carrying MRSA and separating them, it is less likely that the bacterium will spread in the hospital and therefore we can reduce infection rates and save lives.

"Screening offers the chance to test patients when they are pre-assessed for elective surgery or when first admitted.

"Within 24 hours, we will know whether MRSA is present on their skin and take action to avoid infection and prevent the bacterium spreading to other patients."

The total cost for the whole of Scotland would be an estimated �55m over five years, but Sir Graham said he believed that money would be saved instantly if the screening cuts the number of hospital infections by a third.

Ms Sturgeon said the report left her in no doubt that a screening programme was the right way forward.

"We are currently considering the implications of the report and I will make a further announcement on this subject as soon as the outcome of the spending review is known later in the year," she said.