SUNDERLAND tops the list in the latest figures on the number patients struck down by the superbug C diff.
The number of incidences of clostridium difficile in the North East has soared by 68 per cent compared with an increase of 28 per cent throughout England and Wales.
The largest number of C diff cases recorded was at Sunderland Royal Hospital, wher
e the number more than doubled from 29 in 2006 to 61 last year.
Graham Howard, spokesman for City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We have, like the Government, made considerable efforts to reduce infection, including replacing all beds, opening a dedicated infection control ward with clean-air facilities, introducing a bed-washer system and specialist staff teams to continue to place infection control at the very top of our healthcare agenda."
In the North East, cases of C diff increased from 182 in 2006 to 295 last year, with increased cases also reported at 12 other hospital trusts in the region.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said 8,324 death certificates mentioned the infection in 2007, compared with 6,480 the previous year.
In some of these cases the deaths may have been caused by other factors, but the patient was also infected with C diff.
Some of these cases may also be due to more complete reporting on death certificates, the ONS said.
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