C.DIFF DEATHS SOAR BY THIRD IN A YEAR.

Byline: BY EMILY COOK HEALTH CORRESPONDENT

A TOTAL of 8,324 people were killed by hospital superbug Clostridium Difficile last year, figures revealed yesterday.

The Office for National Statistics said the death toll rocketed an alarming 28 per cent on the previous year's 6,480.

Campaigners described the rise as horrifying and demanded more is done to improve hospital hygiene.

Kate Jopling, of Help The Aged, lashed out: "This shocking rise is stacked on top of a huge rise in C.diff deaths the previous year - the vast majority of them over 65.

"People go into hospital to get better, not to run the risk of getting secondary infections as a result of poor hygiene."

Neil Manser, of National Concern For Healthcare Infections, added: "There are still too many people dying from these infections."

Officials said the C.diff increase was partly due to better reporting on death certificates in England and Wales.

At the same time, the number of deaths involving superbug MRSA fell slightly to 1,593. This is the first drop since ONS records began in 1993.

More than 90 per cent of C.diff deaths - recorded as the underlying cause or contributory factor - occurred in an NHS hospital. The rest were mainly in nursing or residential homes.

The figures have more than doubled since 2005, when there were 3,757.

The government is investing pounds 230million each year to cut C.diff.

Lib Dem shadow health secretary Norman Lamb said: "There must be zero tolerance of low hygiene standards in hospitals."

Recent figures from the Health Protection Agency show an apparent drop in C.diff cases. Professor Brian Duerden, the government's infection control inspector, said: "Patients have a right to high quality, safe care.

"We take this very seriously and have made infection control a legal requirement and a number one NHS priority."

3,757 C.diff deaths in 2005 - less than half 2007's toll

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