A HOSPITAL patient got drunk on alcohol-based gel used to fight superbugs.

And now bosses at the Royal Blackburn and Burnley General hospitals have pledged to remove the dispensers from beds of ‘at risk patients’ after revealing there have been a number of similar incidents.

The details emerged after Jason Howard appeared before Blackburn magistrates charged with threatening behaviour towards hospital staff.

The court was told that nurses were puzzled about how Howard, 29, was able to get drunk while being treated at the Royal Blackburn.

Then other patients reported seeing him swigging the sterilising handwash from the dispensers.

The gel is 70 per cent-proof alcohol. Dispensers are positioned near all beds in a bid to improve cleanliness and tackle superbugs such as MRSA.

Lancashire Telegraph medical expert Dr Tom Smith said drinking the hospital handwash was “incredibly dangerous”.

He said: “Most of these gels contain methyl alcohol, which is highly toxic in only small amounts and can cause kidney and brain problems.”

A spokesman for Royal Blackburn Hospital said that risk assessments would be carried out on patients and if it was deemed suitable the gels would be removed from individual beds.

He said: “The issue of people drinking the alcohol gels has been known but it is not common.

“Staff are vigilant and the gel will be removed if necessary.

"This will not affect other patients, staff and visitors.”

Blackburn magistrates heard that Howard was ‘desperate’ for alcohol while in hospital.

Catherine Allan, prosecuting, said Howard, an alcoholic, had numerous alcohol-related convictions.

She said: “He was making a nuisance of himself and became increasingly intoxicated by drinking alcohol-based antiseptic solutions provided for people to wash their hands in.

Howard, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to threatening behaviour against hospital staff.

He also admitted a charge of being drunk and disorderly relating to an incident at a sheltered housing development.

He was given a conditional discharge for six months and ordered to pay £50 costs.

Jonathan Taylor, defending, said the behaviour in hospital was an indication of just how low an ebb his client’s life was at.

He said: “He was in hospital where there was no drink available to him and the nurses could not understand why he was getting more and more drunk.

“It transpired that other people had seen him consuming the hand cream, which apparently has quite a high alcohol content, and while he is not before the court for that it gives an indication of how the disease of alcoholism has got a hold of him.”

He said Howard had nowhere to live and cut ‘quite a pathetic figure’.

“Clearly he is a nuisance to the public although he seldom remembers what he has done,” said Mr Taylor.