A LIFE-saving drug which sparked a row about rationing is being used in the North-East, it has been revealed.

Xigris is a new drug which can reduce the death rate among intensive care patients suffering from sepsis - a dangerous condition where the immune system suffers a severe reaction to infection such as pneumonia and surgery.

But some doctors said they have been blocked from giving ill patients the drug.

Professor David Bennett, of St George's Hospital Intensive Care Unit, London, spoke out after being told he could only prescribe the £5,000-a-time drug to one patient a month, on compassionate grounds.

He told the BBC he feared some patients would die as access to the drug around England was "patchy".

In Scotland, hospital doctors have been given the go-ahead to prescribe Xigris.

A straw poll of some of the North-East's major hospitals suggest that the drug is being made available to intensive care specialists on request - even though the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) is not expected to make a ruling on whether the drug should be used by the NHS until next August.

A spokeswoman for County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals NHS Trust confirmed that the use of Xigris had been sanctioned.

At the North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust a spokeswoman said: "As a trust, we have used it twice after a decision based on clinical grounds."

South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust principal pharmacist Adrienne Stark said: "We have not used Xigris yet, but would consider any request based on clinical need.

"The trust's drug and therapy committee has discussed the drug, but it is awaiting the Nice guidelines and further evidence of the effectiveness of Xigris."

Dr Mike Laker, medical director of the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "It is a very expensive drug and there is an issue of affordability if it has not been approved by Nice."

The position on Tyneside is that the drug had been approved for one patient, he said.

"We are going to try to define which group of patients would most benefit from this drug and set up an appropriate funding mechanism," said Dr Laker.

He said if intensive care specialists wanted the drug "we would support them".

All NHS hospital trusts have to stay within drug budgets set by local primary care trusts.