A NEW system which enables patients to be screened for MRSA in just 10 minutes is set to undergo trials in the NHS.

The technology, developed in conjunction with experts at Strathclyde University, uses naturally occuring viruses that prey on bacteria as a sensor to detect for the superbug. Swabs taken from patients are read on a machine - similar to those used in bank ATMs - which nurses on wards can directly access, instead of having to send tests to a laboratory.

The firm behind the system claims it will allow staff to identify quickly the estimated 80% of people who are not carrying MRSA (methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus) and allow them to concentrate infection control measures on high-risk patients.

Although scientists are still working on the final stages of the development of the system, it is anticipated that clinical trials will begin later this year in up to four NHS hospitals across the UK, including one in Scotland.

Experts have repeatedly called for widespread screening to be introduced to tackle the high rates of MRSA in hospitals across the UK, an approach which has proved successful in other countries such as Holland. Health watchdog body NHS Quality Improvement Scotland is currently assessing if some form of MRSA screening should be introduced north of the Border.

David Stokes, director of sales and marketing at Blaze Venture Technologies, the company developing the test, said a major advantage of the new system was the speed of results compared with the normal NHS tests.

"You get the initial screening result in 10 minutes, directly at the point of care, as opposed to two, three or four days for conventional culture testing," he said. "That allows for better patient management, as you can separate people who are negative from people who are carriers of staphylococcus aureus, which is the family of bugs that includes MRSA.

"This means that staff can focus their barrier precautions - such as gloves, gowns, handwashing - on a limited number of patients who are known to be carriers of staphylococcus aureus."

Stokes added that while the pricing of the system would not be known until the clinical trials were underway, it was anticipated it would be "highly cost effective".

The system harnesses natural bacteriophages - viruses which are harmless to humans but attack and destroy bacteria. They have been as viewed as possible weapons against bacteria since the 1920s, but one major problem has been that they rapidly become inactive unless they remain waterborne.

However, scientists at Strathclyde University have developed technology which enables them to survive for around two weeks in a dry atmosphere. Inventor Dr Mike Mattey, from the university's institute for pharmacy and biomedical sciences, said: "What we have developed is a means of immobilising them onto surfaces and one of the effects of that is to make them much more stable."

The new MRSA test involves taking a swab from the patient and wiping it onto a card coated with a light-emitting bacteriophage. The virus quickly multiplies when MRSA is present and can be detected by the machine, allowing staff to determine if the patient is potentially carrying the infection in as little as 10 minutes.

Dr Dugald Baird, a consultant microbiologist at Hairmyres Hospital, Lanarkshire, said that the "novel approach" of the system was welcome, but cautioned that speedy testing was not necessarily viewed as top priority in tackling the superbug.

"When it comes to predicting MRSA control in a hospital setting, there are one or two people looking at mathematical models and rapid diagnostic methods don't feature highly on the list," he said. "More important is the availability of isolation facilities, putting patients that you think are at risk of being MRSA carriers safely into a single room before you know the results of screening them."

Derek Butler, chairman of patient group MRSA Action UK, questioned whether cost issues would deter hospitals from using such new technologies.

"Anything that helps to reduce infections is welcome and costs should not come into it," he said. "We believe all tools should be used in the fight to prevent infections being spread - technologies, hand hygiene and cleanliness; everything will play its part."