It doesn't take microbiologist Dr Jenny Childs to spell out the facts about the MRSA superbug (The Argus, July 12). Look in the streets of a town with a local hospital and see how many nurses walk around in their uniform out of working hours.

Last week in Worthing town centre, I saw five different grades of nurses wearing their uniforms buying food, browsing in clothes stores and eating and drinking in cafes and restaurants.

My wife has worked in the health service for 22 years. The only reason she now has to wear her uniform home is she has no secure changing facilities on hospital property, but there is no way she would consider wearing her uniform to go shopping or have lunch at a local cafe.

What is the NHS doing, letting it's staff walk the streets in uniforms that may be infected with all sorts of germs? Let's not forget all the other infections that can be carried by nurses during the course of their daily work. The RCN used to be strict about the wearing of uniform outside the workplace. Now, no one seems to bother.

If MRSA or any other infection is to be controlled, nursing staff and doctors, who wear their own clothing underneath their nice white gowns, should be given the chance to change before they leave the premises. And if they do not change, they should be questioned as to why not.

MRSA is not new. Just because it's in the news at present, it should not be thought of as a fad either. People have always died in hospital, strangely enough.

However, MRSA will not subside if staff do not start looking at the way they carry their work outside of the confines of the hospital and even into their own homes.

D Jacks

-St Elmo Road, Worthing