PATIENTS at Southampton hospitals will have a chance to discuss the latest health crises, including spiralling MRSA figures, crippling debt and a new strain of superbug.

Members of the public are invited to attend a meeting of the hospitals' Patient and Public Involvement Forum on Wednesday, July 20.

Items on the agenda include a presentation on the national Clean Your Hands campaigned aimed at stamping out MRSA and other hospital infections.

The forum is made up of local people working together to improve hospital services.

The Daily Echo has reported how crisis after crisis has hit the beleaguered Southampton University Hospitals Trust, which runs the city's hospitals.

New figures have shown cases of the killer superbug MRSA are on the increase. Seventy-five infections were recorded across the city's hospitals in the year to March.

This compares with a figure of 45 in 2001-02, the first year figures were kept.

The Daily Echo also revealed how two cases of a deadly new strain of superbug, C.difficile 027, were discovered at Southampton General Hospital.

Two more cases were discovered at Winchester's Royal Hampshire County Hospital.

The bug, which causes diarrhoea and potentially-fatal inflammation of the bowel, has killed 26 patients nationwide this year - none of whom were in Hampshire hospitals.

Bosses at the trust were also told at a recent meeting they were facing a deficit of £19m by March next year.

Health chiefs have admitted they have overspent by £4m in the past two months - in a year when they are meant to be making savings of £24m.

The forum meeting will be held at the Warren Centre, Chestnut Road, Southampton from 7pm.