A MUM has hit out after claiming she was not told her severely disabled son was a carrier of the superbug MRSA.

Janet Ashby said she only found out when Stuart Lee Davies, 32, was admitted to hospital - and placed in an isolation ward.

She said that as his carer she should have been told.

One in three of us carry MRSA in our nose or on the surface of our skin, but it only becomes a problem when it develops into an infection.

Stuart, 32, of Ellerbeck Road, Darwen, has suffered from cerebral palsy since birth, leaving him unable to walk or talk.

On September 17 he was admitted to the Royal Blackburn Hospital with a chest infection, and the next day was put in isolation.

Janet said signs were put up outside his hospital room restricting access, and nurses entered with masks and gloves.

When she asked why these measures had been taken, she was told that he had been found to be a carrier of the superbug in July 2007 when he had been fitted with a device in his neck which helps him to swallow.

It is understood this swab was not carried out in the hospital.

Janet said: “I knew nothing about it. I was gobsmacked.

“I’m his mum and his carer and I should have been told. I even phoned his district nurse and she had no knowledge of it either.

“He has had no treatment for it as far as I’m aware and he could have passed it on to anyone. My daughter is a care worker and she could have transferred it to her patients.

“He is very vulnerable to something like that and it could have been life-threatening.

“All these years I’ve spent going to hospital with him and this just wasn’t told to me.

“Things like this happen, but I’m more annoyed now that they haven’t told me. It’s a smack in the face.”

A spokesman for the hospital said they could not comment due to patient confidentiality.

The hospital is currently being extra vigilant about MRSA after battling a ‘concerning’ number of cases.

Only 15 cases are legislated for in a whole year, but nine patients were infected in the first three months.

As a result several wards were deep cleaned.

Earlier this year it was announced that all patients are to be screened for MRSA weeks before they have an operation as part of the fight against the hospital superbug.