Death toll from hospital bugs hits new high - Telegraph

Death toll from hospital bugs hits new high - Telegraph: "Data from the Office for National Statistics covering 2004 to 2008 is expected to show record numbers of deaths linked to the superbugs in England and Wales.

Opposition politicians said the Government had allowed 'a horrifying death toll' because of its 'slow and sloppy' response to spiralling levels of infection in NHS hospitals."

Official data shows a doubling in the death toll linked to MRSA during the period 2004 to 2007, compared with the previous four years, and a quadrupling in deaths linked to C. diff, when two sets of three-year figures are compared.

Between 2004 and 2007 there were more than 20,000 deaths linked to C. diff and more than 6,000 associated with MRSA.