AN action plan has been launched at the Royal Bolton Hospital to beat the MRSA superbug.

High-risk patients will be tested more quickly to see if they have the bug.

And a daily report on MRSA outbreaks within the hospital will be given to every ward, matron and department manager to try and keep its spread in check.

New figures show the hospital has missed Government targets for keeping down the number of new cases. A report to a hospital trust board meeting yesterday showed the Royal Bolton had 34 MRSA infections among patients between April, 2005, and March, 2006.

The Government had set the hospital the target of keeping new cases down to just 28.

The hospital must reduce its numbers of MRSA infections to just 21 in the year to April, 2007, and the figure must be down to 15 by April, 2008.

Dr Ron Hopkins, medical director at the Royal Bolton Hospital, said the action plan that had been drawn up highlighted steps being taken to improve the hospital's record.

"We are determined to drive hospital-acquired infection down even further," he said.

MRSA can cause severe and progressive infections. But it more usually causes less serious conditions ,such as wound infections.

People in the high-risk group include patients over the age of 65 admitted for surgical procedures, with orthopaedic patients being the most at risk.

Hospital bosses have vowed to go into areas of the hospital with high instances of MRSA and actively seek out and destroy the bug using medication.

Patients with peripheral lines, which are used to administer drugs, and those with catheters, will be closely monitored as they are at a high risk of contracting an MRSA infection.

And the clean-your-hands campaign will be relaunched in a bid to encourage staff, patients and visitors to make sure they wash their hands every time they enter a ward.

Handwash dispensers are available at the entrance to each ward.

Bosses stress that almost a quarter of MRSA bacteria in the hospital is brought in from outside.

Cllr Andy Morgan, chairman of Bolton Council's health overview and scrutiny committee, says he will ask for three-monthly reports on the MRSA situation at the hospital.

He welcomed the action plan, butsaid: "We will be stringently monitoring it because these are crucial targets and people in Bolton expect their hospital to be clean.

"The procedures have to be perfect, but the public have some responsibility. They must use the hand washing facilities available on every ward."

Last week the Bolton Evening News revealed how rates of a second superbug, clostridium difficile, had increased by almost a half at the Royal Bolton Hospital.

Rates of the bug, which can cause severe diarrhoea, had increased from 208 in 2004 to 298 last year.