WHEN, on November 25, 2003, Nick Adams, the chief executive of the medical- equipment maker Bioquell, arrived at the John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford, he was on the verge of a breakthrough.

The Radcliffe was treating Iraq war wounded — and they were causing problems for the hospital. Staff believed that the casualties had infected it with a new strain of a superbug called acinetobacter.

Adams had a meeting with Trevor Campbell Davis, chief executive of the Oxford NHS trust. He had already toured the hospital with trust officials and spoken to cleaners.

His Andover-based company promised to come in, seal off infected areas, and saturate them with a hydrogen peroxide vapour that would kill bacteria more thoroughly than conventional forms of disinfection.

“You’ve persuaded my staff you can help,” Campbell Davis said. “Persuade me.”

At the end of the meeting, the NHS trust chief executive said he was interested in Bioquell’s technology. Adams suggested a fee of £12,000 for his company’s services.

Instead, Campbell Davis thought the company needed the hospital more than the hospital needed the company, because Bioquell needed a chance to demonstrate its product. So he asked Bioquell to do the job for free.

Several days later, Bioquell’s chief executive rang Oxford to accept Campbell Davis’s terms, but was told the company’s services were not needed — the Radcliffe had taken other steps to decontaminate its infected areas.

Campbell Davis said last week that Bioquell’s tech- nology was experimental and “it would have been irrespon- sible to use untested equipment in a clinical setting”.

He added that over a four- month period from September to December 2003, the Oxford NHS trust counted 30 cases of people with acinetobacter in the Radcliffe and other facilities.

“Iraq was only one of a number of potential sources, as I made clear at the time during my conversations with Nick Adams,” he added.

Adams, 38, will not talk about his experience at the Radcliffe but, confronted with details of his aborted efforts to win business from the hospital, he acknowledged his general frustration in dealing with the health service.

Labour came to power promising to harness the private sector to improve public services. It said it wouild promote a knowledge-based economy and lift living standards. “Our experience has been just the opposite,” said Adams.

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