DOCTORS have been rapped by a hospital boss for not washing their hands to combat the threat of superbug MRSA.

Jo Cubbon, chief executive of East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, said "a number of reports" she had received about staff ignoring hygiene guidelines involved doctors.

And she said it was also "evident" that not all other staff were washing their hands, despite a high-profile campaign to stamp out the deadly bug.

As the Trust struggles to meet its target to reduce cases of MRSA, Mrs Cubbon told staff that cleanliness guidelines were "not optional".

Her warning, in the monthly newsletter to the Trust's 7,000 employees, comes after the Patient and Public Involvement Forum watchdog hit out at dirty wards at the area's hospitals.

Mrs Cubbon said: "I've been concerned by a couple of incidents recently brought to my attention by patients and members of the Patients' Forum. It is evident that not all staff are following the hand hygiene policy.

"A number of these incidents have involved doctors. I want everyone to be clear that this is not optional both for the safety of our patients and to reassure the public all staff must understand and implement infection control policies in full."

The news comes despite the campaign by the Trust to encourage staff and visitors to wash their hands.

Martin Ravenscroft, the brother of 61-year-old Blackburn man David Short, thought to be the first person to die from MRSA in East Lancashire, said: "Staff are not taking heed of the message to clean their hands. It is not getting through, especially to the doctors and nurses."

The patient watchdog slammed wards as "dirty, tatty and dusty" in December and said it observed doctors who did not wash their hands.

Today forum chairman Mollie Manthorpe said the Trust needed action as well as words to tackle infections.

She said: "There has to be some quality monitoring by the Trust. They have to have people there to say you didn't wash your hands'.

"What is management for but to check that these things are being carried out?"

The Lancashire Evening Telegraph revealed this month that managers are now planning to send fake patients on to wards to see if guidelines are being followed.

Trust chiefs are expecting between 55 and 61 MRSA cases for the year to April, missing its target of 50 but less than the 69 reported last year.

Figures released this month show the Trust has a higher rate of MRSA cases per 1,000 beds than any other hospital authority in Lancashire.