AROUND 100 East Lancashire hospital patients - including four new-born babies - contracted the potentially fatal superbug MRSA last year.

Hospital bosses have admitted the bug - which has grown resistant to antibiotics - is causing problems and cases have been reported in both Blackburn and Burnley.

The figures were confirmed as it was revealed that £200million is being spent nationally introducing new safety measures.

They include a gel for doctors and nurses designed to kill the deadly bacteria when they wash their hands.

Superbugs affect 33,000 UK hospital patients ever year.

And a report reveals that many wards in Blackburn hospitals 'continually have positive patients' suffering from MRSA.

Eighteen people are reported to have been hit by the bug at Blackburn Royal Infirmary and Queen's Park, last year.

A review of cleansing procedures for equipment - one possible way the bug could be passed on - led to 'several issues being encountered'. Improvements to cleansing, storage and monitoring procedures for equipment have been implemented.

In Burnley, around 20 cases of the bug are being reported every quarter.

Four babies became infected with MRSA while being cared for at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Burnley General Hospital last year.

Relatives and healthworkers who had come into contact with the babies shortly before the outbreak - between March 26 and April 19 - were also screened and one healthworker was found to have the bug.

One of the babies died, but the death was attributed to premature birth.

Details of the outbreaks are contained in the East Lancashire Hospital NHS Trust's annual Infection Control Report 2003.

It adds that the hospital trust expects numbers to improve as the new facilities at Burnley General and Queen's Park replace aging ones.

Health watchdogs are to inspect hospital wards throughout East Lancashire to see if they are thriving breeding grounds for MRSA.

But their checks will only be on general wards, and not in intensive care or neonatal units -- two of the departments which have been proved most prone to the bug in East Lancashire.

Mollie Manthorpe, chairman of the East Lancashire NHS Trust patients' forum said: "Tackling bugs such as MRSA is as much about basic hygiene as it is about powerful antibiotics. After all, prevention is better than cure.\

"Patients are becoming increasingly concerned about the increased risk of catching an infection as a result of being in hospital."

Trust chairman Christine Kirk said: "We're happy to co-operate with these checks and staff have been advised to do all they can to co-operate."

Although MRSA rates for East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust were lower than the national average in the latest Government survey, they had risen for a second year.