A Bradford councillor who sits on the district's Health Improvement Committee is calling on local hospitals to draw up and publish plans to eradicate the deadly superbug MRSA.

Councillor John Godward, who is Labour's spokesman on the committee and also the chief officer of the former Airedale Community Health Council, made the call in the wake of national and local publicity about the hospital-acquired infection.

Last week the Telegraph & Argus told how pensioner Maureen Williams contracted the MRSA superbug while being treated at Bradford Royal Infirmary and a National Audit Office report blamed a lack of cleanliness and hygiene for rising rates nationally of MRSA.

Coun Godward (Lab, Great Horton) said: "Stories in the press and on television of the horrific consequences of patients contracting MRSA while in hospital for elective or emergency surgery, is causing some of them to fear admission.

"I don't think that patients can be blamed for having these fears and it is up to the hospitals to reassure patients by producing immediate plans to reduce and eradicate this dreadful infection."

He added: "Neither Bradford nor Airedale General Hospitals have large numbers of patients contracting MRSA while in hospital, but one case is too many."

Councillor Godward said local hospitals should follow the example of a hospital in Exeter which had successfully eradicated the bug.

Plans he would like to see in place include awareness training for all staff who work with patients, improved cleaning and hygiene on all wards, checks on all patients entering hospital to ensure they are not carriers of MRSA, the recruitment of more cross-infection nurses, all patients found to have the MRSA infection to be nursed separately and quarterly surveillance reports to be submitted to the Trust boards and Bradford Council Health Improvement Committee.

"All of these initiatives will cost more money, but in Exeter they found overall it saved money, presumably by not having to treat patients who had contracted the disease," he said.

"They also found waiting lists and times also improved."

Coun Godward said he had spoken to council officers about getting the subject on a future meeting of the Health Improvement Committee.

Catherine Richardson-Roberts, of Prod Lane, Shipley Glen, whose 69-year-old mother Maureen Williams is currently in BRI where she contracted MRSA following an operation, said she felt the hospital needed to make radical changes to prevent more cases and welcomed Coun Godward's comments on the subject.

Cindy Hockley, who has a remit for infection control at Bradford Teaching Hospitals Trust, reassured people there were "tried and tested" measures in place to stop the infection.

Last week the T&A reported that rates of the MRSA bug reported at the hospital had fallen slightly from 0.17 to 0.16 per 1,000 bed days.