MEDICS at Barrow's Furness General Hospital were forced to take urgent action after an outbreak of the "superbug" MRSA.

A cluster of cases forced hospital chiefs to close ward five to admissions.

However, during last weekend, "winter pressures" and a large number of medical admissions meant that ten patients had to be admitted to the 36-bed ward, although they were quickly moved on.

Hospital bosses said that while the move was not ideal, they did not believe the patients had been put at risk.

A number of patients on ward five, which is a surgical ward, have been found to have MRSA - methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus - during the last week or two. Four patients had infected wounds, while the remainder were carrying the bacteria without any harmful effects. Eleven patients were affected at the peak of the outbreak.

Morecambe Bay Hospitals NHS Trust medical director David Telford said that last week it was thought "prudent" to close the ward, which meant that admissions were not permitted and patient numbers were run down to reduce pressure, allowing staff to concentrate on the problem.

However, the cluster coincided with the start of "winter pressures" which included older people arriving at the accident and emergency department with chest infections.

The high number of medical admissions meant that ward five had to be called back into service, which Dr Telford said they would have preferred not to have done.

"The problem was that they had a very busy weekend and we had to reopen a little bit of the ward in order to help them deal with that," he said.

"Our overall figures (for MRSA) are among the lowest in the country, therefore when we have got a problem it's more remarkable.

"It (the outbreak) is not small by local standards but it's small by national standards."

Dr Telford said that because of the modern design of the ward it was possible to keep infected patients away from others, and the new patients were only admitted for a short time over the weekend.

As of Tuesday this week there were ten empty beds on the ward, and it was operating at 60 per cent of capacity. Only planned surgical cases, such as cancer patients waiting for surgery, were being admitted from Tuesday.

Dr Telford said that Staphylococcus aureus was a common type of bacteria, which many people carried, and could cause wounds to turn septic.

In a small proportion of people who have a Staphylococcus it is resistant to Methicillin, which would be the antibiotic of choice.

Dr Telford said there were other antibiotics that could be used to treat the infection, but he said that at least two of the four affected patients were recovering without antibiotics.

The vice chairman of the Patient and Public Involvement in Health Forum for the hospitals trust, Annelies Boak, said the forum was "disappointed" at the outbreak in Morecambe Bay.

"We want them to be vigilant and to get this situation cleared up as soon as possible," she said.

THe PPI forum is an independent body, which works to ensure the public and patients can influence how health care is delivered.