Andover company Bioquell says it has the answer to Britain's hospital superbug, MRSA.

Bioquell says its unique equipment has been proven to virtually eradicate hospital bugs, but it has yet to be deployed in the UK.

It has been used in Singapore to tackle SARS, in America to tackle anthrax, as well as in hospitals in France.

In this country, after its use MRSA could be found on only one per cent of swabs taken during trials at St Thomas' Hospital in London.

The company, based on Walworth Industrial Estate has developed a Room Bio-Decontamination Service (RBDS) - a unique piece of equipment which makes rooms microbiologically clean.

There is also an Equipment Bio-Decontamination Service which microbiologically cleans safety cabinets and incubators.

Swabs taken around St Thomas' Hospital before cleaning showed 90 per cent proving positive for MRSA.

After hospital cleaning 66 per cent of swabs were still proving positive but after Bioquell's bio-decontamination equipment was used only one per cent were showing positive.

Nick Adams, chief executive, said: "Bioquell's evidence has shown the superbug problem is large and an international problem and standard cleaning methods are ineffective."

The UK has one of the highest levels of hospital infections in Europe.

It has been estimated that in the last year nearly 5,000 people died from the hospital superbug MRSA.

The increase in cases is blamed on the cleanliness of hospitals.

Alistair Frost, head of Bioquell's RBDS said: "The focus we see is on hand hygiene and cleaning, which is better but there is a difference between clean and microbiologically clean."

Mr Adams added: "Hand washing is important but it's not the whole solution."

Roger Kanaris, head of operation and service, said the results from St Thomas' Hospital were nothing short of amazing.

Given Britain's huge problem with MRSA he is amazed the equipment is not being deployed in the UK.