The Government has admitted that technology from a Cleckheaton company might hold the key to eradicating MRSA from hospitals and ambulances.

Ferno (UK), a manufacturer and supplier of emergency medical equipment, has been working with the Steris Corporation in the USA to find a way of combating deadly superbugs.

The product - vaporised hydrogen peroxide (VHP) - is a dry vapour which is blasted into a contaminated environment.

The machine then takes the vapour back out and it is converted back to oxygen and water.

And now Health Minister Ivan Lewis said that its "product may have potential value".

He told Shipley MP Philip Davies that now it needed to be tested in a national health service setting.

Mr Lewis added: "The Department of Health is currently funding a project to evaluate environmental cleaning for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. As part of this Steris' vaporised hydrogen peroxide equipment will be evaluated alongside wet disinfection in both a hospital side room and a controlled exposure chamber."

Mr Davies is calling on the Government to approve VHP to be used nationwide. He said: "Given the startling success there has already been with the VHP the Government need to take it seriously with more and more people becoming victims of this. Immediate action needs to be taken.

"The Government is being very slow off the mark with something which could be a solution to the problem.

"It would be a huge breakthrough. and it is totally unacceptable that a decision has not been taken already."

Trials conducted for nine months on ambulances, including ones in West Yorkshire, by independent microbiologists found the procedure killed all bugs, including MRSA.

It comes after a report by the Healthcare Commission said one in four trusts are failing to meet their MRSA and Clostridium difficile (C diff) targets.

Both NHS Trusts which run hospitals in Bradford and Airedale were declared fully compliant' with the Healthcare Commission's core standards for infection control.

Airedale NHS Trust said it had shown a year-on-year reduction in MRSA infection rates, while Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said it had followed the standards set by the Department of Health's hygiene code.

In Bradford, health bosses say more patients are being screened for MRSA, isolation areas are being increased, old wards are being refurbished, more wash basins are being installed and the infection control team has been expanded.

In Airedale, there are plans to strengthen the trust's infection control training programme for staff, continue to drive home the messages in the Clean Your Hands campaign and work with matrons to further improve cleaning standards.

Hospitals failing to tackle superbugs will be served with improvement notices.