A DEVASTATED daughter claims she will sue Southend Hospital after her father died while being treated for the MRSA superbug.

Sharon Holt, 50, says dad Frederick Smith was infected with the deadly bacteria after a hip replacement operation.

The mother-of-four said: "He was such a gentle man. He never asked for anything and never complained. He just thought he was being looked after."

Mr Smith, 81, spent the last two months of his life in Southend Hospital after being admitted in February with pneumonia.

The former window cleaner and father-of-five, from Southchurch, died last Wednesday.

During his stay he had a new hip fitted, having had an operaton on the joint the previous year. But to avoid a lengthy wait for the operation, Mr Smith used savings to pay as a private patient at Southend Hospital.

However, only a week after the operation, in March, the hospital called Mrs Holt to say her father had been infected with the superbug.

She said: "I was hysterical. They told me they had the worst possible news. I thought they meant he had died. But they said he had the most resistant type of MRSA.

"They admitted to me it was hospital-acquired." Doctors then opened the wound up and attempted to treat the bug.

"But the infection got worse and spread to the blood stream. By the beginning of April it was so bad doctors had to remove the entire hip. He also had blood poisoning."

Mrs Holt, from Maitland Place, Shoebury, said: "His wound never healed up.

"When he got MRSA, he started having convulsions and was in pain.

"He spent his life savings and he didn't even get the hip he had paid for. It is not about the money.

"He shouldn't have died the way he did." Southend Hospital has launched an investigation following the complaint.

Pat Stone, hospital spokeswoman, said: "We are currently investigating issues about Mr Smith's admission through our formal complaints procedure and will be in touch with Mrs Holt directly."

Last week the hospital confirmed it had settled a £70,000 out of court superbug claim.

John Lynch, 62, from Shoebury, won his legal case against the hospital after contracting MRSA following a back operation in 2003.