HUNDREDS of hospital patients have been sent warning letters and 22 urged to have chest X-rays after a healthcare worker was found to have tuberculosis.

A total of 545 patients who have been in contact with the worker between December 1 and the middle of last month have been sent a letter by Chorley and South Ribble NHS Trust Hospital advising them to seek medical advice if they develop a bad cough -- the main symptom of the disease.

In the first 24 hours after setting up an information line the hospital received dozens of calls from people concerned about the situation.

The most vulnerable 22 patients, including cancer sufferers, have been invited back to the hospital for the X-ray.

Pauline Fielding, hospital nursing director, said: "There has been no failure in the screening procedure which the hospital runs. Every one of our staff is screened. The health worker infected has gone through the appropriate procedure."

Mrs Fielding said that even after vaccination there was still a 20 per cent chance of someone contracting the disease, but stressed there was no need to panic. She said: "People should be vigilant about their health, but they should not worry. Tuberculosis is a very treatable disease." A spokesman for Chorley and South Ribble NHS Trust said: "The likelihood of TB being passed on to patients or work colleagues in the hospital is extremely remote."

"Experts in infectious disease control say the chance of acquiring TB from an individual with the illness is less than one per cent."

"Patients are being invited back because they have other underlying conditions that could make them slightly more susceptible to infection. However we would like to reassure these patients that the risk to them is very low indeed."

The spokesman added that any patient who has not received a letter has not had any contact with the healthcare worker.

The un-named worker, believed to be a woman, is being treated with antibiotics and said to be making good progress.

So far, 87 calls have been made to the hospital -- many from people previously contacted by the Trust.

Information lines have been set up on 01257 245923, 01257 245310 and 01257 245677.