Patients are more likely to catch the MRSA superbug at Brighton and Sussex University hospitals than anywhere else in the country.

The trust's infection rate is more than twice the national average and the worst in England, the Department of Health revealed yesterday.

It reported 69 bloodstream infections between April and September 2005, a rate of 0.41 per 1,000 bed days.

Out of 173 trusts, 126 had rates of 0.2 or less.

Chief executive Peter Coles last night admitted the results were "the last thing we wanted to see".

The high rate came after a significant rise on the previous six months, when there were 59 reports, a rate of 0.35.

However, it was still lower than the peak reached between April and September 2004, when there were 70 reports, or 0.42 per 1,000 bed days.

The Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust runs the Royal Sussex County Hospital and the Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital in Brighton and the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath.

Sussex hospitals now face having specialist teams sent in to sort them out under the Government's latest initiative to combat MRSA.

None of the county's trusts were among the first three to get special help yesterday but health officials will shortly be identifying more in need of support.

Tanya Page, 32, was in a coma for four months with less than a ten per cent chance of survival after contracting MRSA at the Princess Royal.

She now suffers from arthritis and osteoporosis as well as breathing problems and has 70 scars on her body as a result of dozens of operations after contracting the superbug.

She said: "I think it's just disgusting. This is such a big problem and it doesn't seem to be going away.

"I feel so sorry for anyone who's having to go into hospital and worrying about MRSA.

"It is scary because we know the hospitals aren't any better and they're still not clean."

Mr Coles said: "We're clearly not happy with the situation. The figures are about six months old and our numbers have been coming down so things are improving but its obviously not a position we'd choose to be in."

A spokesman for the trust said MRSA rates remained high because it treated "very sick" patients who were more at risk and it accepted transfers of critically ill patients from other hospitals also at high risk.

However, the University Hospitals of Leicester Trust, which provides the same specialist services offered by Brighton and Sussex, had an infection rate of just 0.14 per 1,000 bed days.

The University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, providing many of the same services, has almost halved its MRSA cases in recent months.

East Sussex Hospitals saw MRSA cases more than double, from 11 to 29, a rate of 0.17. Cases in Worthing and Southlands Hospitals increased from 21 to 24, a rate of 0.24.

Surrey and Sussex Healthcare reported a rise from 18 to 24, a rate of 0.19.

At Royal West Sussex, rates were constant, with 13 reported in each of the last two six-month periods, or 0.17 per 1,000 bed days.