CUTTING-edge decontamination units will save lives in Worcestershire hospitals by killing superbugs such as MRSA and viruses such as swine flu within an hour, say experts.

Hospital bosses in Worcestershire are the first to pilot the new Meditrox 100, a portable decontamination unit that kills MRSA, C.difficile, swine flu, the highly infectious winter vomiting bug norovirus and E.coli, which can cause food poisoning.

The Alexandra Hospital in Redditch already has two of the four units so far in existence and another is expected to be delivered to Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester within three weeks as part of a six-month trial.

The Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is the first trust in the country to use the technology following trials in Birmingham and Manchester.

The technology itself has been developed by a Worcestershirebased firm – Steritrox, of Birlingham, near Pershore.

The science behind it grew out of research in the Government’s Porton Down research establishment in the 1960s when the powers-that-be were anxious about the terrorist threat of biological weapons.

Steritox managing director Peter Townley said: “The bacteria is killed quickly. The process literally breaks open the cell and neuters it. It’s like the cell has been hit by a shotgun pellet. It is completely green, using air and water rather than chemicals.

This will reduce bacteria and infection. Without a doubt this will save a significant number of lives and all you have to do is press a button and walk away.”

The units, which are around the size of a wheelie bin, are fully portable and can be used by a janitor or cleaner. The room has to be sealed and the decontamination takes about an hour, killing 99.9 per cent of all surface and airborne viruses and pathogens.

The unit, which is powered by mains electricity and a battery, combines water and oxygen to generate a dry ozone vapour.

When the ozone encounters humidity it creates hydrogen peroxide gas which is unstable and breaks down into hydroxyl free radicals which are the key weapon in the war on bacteria, moulds, viruses and yeast.

These hydroxyl radicals literally punch a hole in the wall of a bacteria cell as they rapidly permeate all elements of the room, including curtains and bed clothes.

The process also cleans and sanitises walls and areas which are hard to reach through traditional cleaning, including air conditioning systems and medical equipment.

The technology, which has already been backed by the Canadian Journal of Microbiology, then purges the room of leftover ozone from the atmosphere at the end of the decontamination cycle so it can be occupied again straight away.

More than one unit can be deployed in emergency situations such as an outbreak of norovirus which can lead to ward closures and created intense pressure on beds in Worcestershire Royal Hospital last winter.

Because the cycle is so quick, leaders at Steritrox also hope it will reduce disruption to patients and staff and relieve pressure on beds.

Twelve staff members have already been trained at the Alexandra Hospital to use the unit.

Mr Townley said the system would be far more effective than the steam cleaning used in so-called “deep cleans” of hospitals in measures funded by the Government.

About £10 million was allocated to deep clean hospitals across the West Midlands in November 2007. The labour-intensive process involved taking 210 beds to pieces across the five community hospitals run by NHS Worcestershire, then called Worcestershire Primary Care Trust.

Curtains and bedding had to be replaced in hospitals such as Malvern’s, costing about £161,000.

Mr Townley said using the decontamination unit was cheaper and quicker than using existing cleaning methods performed by hand using traditional cleaning methods and products. The deep clean of a room by hand could take over two hours and is less effective.

It costs £50 to £60 to use the unit on a single room. It would cost about £250 for a full clean using hydrogen peroxide.

Company bosses estimate that the product could generate £398 million over three years nationally and up to £3.4 billion if used in the USA.

The cost using a single unit will be £600 to £700 per month. A unit is leased for three years, roughly its working lifespan.

At the moment there are only four machines in existence – two at Redditch and two at the company base in Pershore – but leaders hope the unit can be produced for a global market.

Harriett Baldwin, Conservative parliamentary candidate for West Worcestershire, who has been shown how the unit works at Birlingham, said: “It is very exciting to see a Worcestershire business come up with this ingenious invention that could make such an enormous difference to people’s experience of hospital, not only locally but across the world.

C.difficile and MRSA continue to be real problems and real worries for our acute trust and I sincerely hope that this business, in the middle of harsh economic times, is as successful as one would expect.”

Helen Blanchard, director of nursing and infection prevention and control for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We are always looking at new and innovative ways to reduce healthcare associated infections.

We are just beginning a six-month trial of Meditrox which is an environmental decontamination system. It is one of a number of new technologies that we are investigating in order to not only to maintain but improve on our high standard of hospital cleanliness.”