Terror Of The Superbug Explosion

Official figures show that in the first three months of 2007 more than 15,500 patients caught stomach bug Clostridium difficile. According to the Health Protection Agency, that was a rise of almost a quarter on the previous three months. And there are fears that by the end of the year the number of patients infected could pass 60,000, a dramatic increase on the 44,000 cases in 2004. Just a day after it emerged that 90 patients had died from the bug in one hospital trust alone, the full extent of the danger became clear. A damning report by the Healthcare Commission revealed that shoddy care, dirty wards and a lack of nursing staff had speeded the death of more than 300 patients at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust. Last night, air ambulance staff were refusing to land patients at Maidstone, one of the trust’s three hospitals, over safety fears. Kent Air Ambulance said it had written to the trust “to obtain guarantees and assurances that the infection problem is under control”. Even health officials admit the bug is “endemic” across the NHS and could prove tough to stamp out.