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LATEST figures show that that deaths at the Royal United Hospital in Bath connected with so-called super bugs have fallen dramatically.

Statistics from the Office for National Statistics show deaths involving MRSA and Clostridium difficile fell by half in 2007, compared to the previous year.

The hospital recorded 49 deaths in 2007 where Clostridium difficile was noted on the death certificate as either the primary cause, or contributory factor.

Of those, six deaths were directly attributable to Cdiff.

This figure is almost half that of 2006 when there were 94 deaths where Cdiff was either a primary cause or contributory factor in death. In 2005, it was 86.

Hospital chiefs say the decrease follows the introduction of a system of isolating patients immediately after diagnosis, antibiotic prescribing and the implementation of a rigorous deep-cleaning and hand-hygiene campaign.

In the recent Healthcare Commission Inpatient Survey, the hospital scored well in terms of hospital cleanliness with almost three quarters of the inpatients in the survey saying that the doctors and nurses always washed their hands between dealing with patients.

In terms of MRSA figures, both in the report and for 2007, the RUH continues to attain a standard performance.

According to the ONS report, between 2002 and 2006, there were 38 deaths - which as a percentage of the total number of deaths across that period, was 0.46% Mr John Waldron, medical director of the Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust said: "I am confident that the RUH is a safe hospital."

The South West Regional Health Authority said the data from the Office of National Statistics could be misleading as it only shows where a patient has died, not where the infection was acquired or whether the infection was the primary cause of death.

2:43pm Tuesday 27th May 2008

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