But as well as quantity we have to improve the quality of care at the same time. I expect NHS trust leadership to focus on hospital infections and get it down to the absolute minimum It cannot be left to hospital infection teams. Anna Walker, the chief executive, said: "We will be looking into the issue as the Secretary of State has requested."David Lidington, Tory MP for High Wycombe, said: "My hope is that this inquiry will learn the lessons not just of what happened at Stoke Mandeville but also look at the national picture."In a statement. Although it is not resistant to antibiotics like MRSA, about one in five cases is difficult to treat.
The bug also forms spores that linger on the hands and on floors, furniture and bedding. These are difficult to remove with conventional cleaning.Advice from hospitals in North America, which is thought to be the source of the new strain, has led to a change in cleaning materials used in Stoke Mandeville from chlorine bleach to hydrogen peroxide to get rid of the spores.Asked if government targets for cutting waiting lists had contributed to the increase in hospital infections, Ms Hewitt said: "Patients and the public made it very clear to us they wanted waiting lists to come down ... Although some of the rise is due to better reporting, infection control experts say the increase has been dramatic.The bug mainly affects the elderly, causing severe diarrhoea, and led to 934 deaths in 2003, about the same as MRSA. Once it is under control, I will order an independent inquiry.
My officials are talking to the Healthcare Commission about what form the inquiry will take."Infections with C.difficile have soared in the past decade from about 1,200 cases in 1990 to more than 43,000 in 2004. Managers at the hospital in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, have been criticised for ignoring the advice of infection control experts because of pressure to meet government targets on waiting times.Ms Hewitt said: "The only thing that matters now is to get the infection under control I am not going to distract hospital staff from that. Ministers are to order an independent inquiry into a hospital stricken by the outbreak of a lethal infection that has claimed 12 lives and infected 300 patients. The risk of bowel cancer dropped by 30 per cent for people who ate one portion or more of fish every other day compared to those who ate fish less than once a week.The Meat and Livestock Commission said that people in Britain ate well below the 160g-per-day consumption levels that were used to class high intake in the study.. People who eat a diet high in red and processed meat increase their risk of bowel cancer by as much as a third, researchers have warned.
