Action needed to tackle deadly new hospital superbug

Worrying increase in deaths from ‘C-diff’ bug – a bigger threat than MRSA

Andrew Griffiths, Conservative Spokesman for Burton and Uttoxeter, expressed concern this week at new official figures which have exposed an alarming spread of a new hospital superbug - Clostridium difficile (‘C-diff’).

Twice as many people are now dying from major hospital-acquired superbugs than are killed each year on the roads. Government statistics show a staggering 69 per cent increase in deaths from C-diff, and an increase of 39 per cent from the MRSA superbug. Since Tony Blair and Gordon Brown came to power, deaths from MRSA have quadrupled, and in the last two years alone, deaths from C-diff have more than doubled.

Andrew remarked,

"Labour Ministers are failing to face up to the dangers of MRSA and C-diff. I am very concerned that hardworking NHS staff are not getting the support they need to deliver a comprehensive strategy against hospital-acquired infections.

The staggering increase in deaths from deadly superbugs is worrying enough. But the increasing presence of more dangerous strains of C-diff and MRSA will become an even bigger problem without an urgent and rigorous strategy now. Gordon Brown’s savage bed cuts over the past two years have allowed deaths from C-Diff and MRSA to grow to an appalling level."

Andrew added:

"The NHS is Conservatives’ number one priority. We will give health care professionals the freedom and support they need to ensure patients receive the best care."