The number of deaths involving the hospital bug Clostridium difficile have more than doubled in two years in England and Wales, latest figures show.

The Government has said that it wants to cut infections linked to the bacterial infection by a third by 2010-11, but data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows a year-on-year rise in the number of related deaths since 2001.

The Prime Minister ordered a high-profile “deep clean” of all NHS hospitals in England earlier this year in order to stop the spread of infections such as MRSA and C. difficile.

Despite recent falls in the rate of both infections, C. difficile was mentioned on 8,324 death certificates last year compared with 6,480 in 2006 – an increase of 28 per cent.

This compares with 3,757 mentions on death certificates in 2005, and represents a “substantial increase” since 2003, the ONS said.

The Department of Health said that the increase may be because of better reporting of C. difficile, but opposition parties called the figures “horrifying” and said that many of the deaths could have been avoided.

The bacterium is carried by a proportion of the population without health risks but can cause life-threatening illness, linked to careless use of antibiotics, if it is allowed to grow unchecked.

It is estimated that about one in ten bloodstream infections involving C. difficile will be fatal. The risk increases with age: C. difficile appeared on the death certificates of one in 500 people over the age of 85 who died between 2003 and 2007, the ONS said.

The Government called for more accurate reporting of MRSA and C. difficile on death certificates in 2005. The following year, 2006-07, the number of cases in which C. difficile was mentioned as a factor in a death soared by 72 per cent. The infection was named as the underlying cause of death on about half of the cases last year, the ONS said, but could also be mentioned on a death certificate if patients had contracted an infection at any time during their hospital stay.

Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrats’ health spokesman, said: “These are horrifying statistics. The truth is that these could be avoidable deaths.”

Patient Concern, the campaign group, added: “The reasons for these deaths are simple – it is down to dirty hospitals, overcrowded wards, lack of isolation units and poor practice.”

The data released yesterday also shows that deaths relating to MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) fell slightly to 1,593 in 2007 – the first time fatal cases of the super-bug have fallen since the ONS began keeping records in 1993.

The NHS has also reported a recent fall in the number of actual cases of C. difficile infection. In the over65s – the main age group affected – the number fell by 9 per cent in a year to 50,392 in 2007. But C. difficile bloodstream infections reported in the first quarter of this year appeared to reverse this trend, with a 6 per cent increase in cases in this age group.

Professor Brian Duerden, the Government’s inspector of microbiology and infection control, said that he believed the rise in the number of C. difficile cases recorded as a contributing factor on death certificates did not represent a rise in the actual number of deaths, but primarily an “increase in awareness and reporting”.

He added that the Department of Health was taking the issue “very seriously”, investing £230 million each year in infection control measures in an attempt to meet its C. difficile target, set in April.

“Cases of MRSA and C. difficile infections are falling and for the first time we are seeing the number of recorded deaths from MRSA falling too. However, people who are very ill are vulnerable to infections, not all of which are avoidable,” he said.

High-profile outbreaks occurred at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Bucking-hamshire, between 2003 and 2006, and Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust in 2005 and 2006, when deaths of at least 33 and 90 patients were directly linked to C. difficile.

A report by the Healthcare Commission, the hospital regulator, found in October that one NHS trust in four was failing to meet expected standards of hygiene and infection control.

Over the four years to 2007, organisations reporting the highest rates of infection included hospitals in Nuneaton, Kettering, Leicester, Bristol and Bath, although the ONS said that factors such as better reporting or a disproportionately elderly population may account for this in some areas.

Andrew Lansley, the Shadow Health Secretary, said: “It is tragic that so many people are dying unnecessarily each year from Clostridium difficile.

“The vast majority of these deaths could have been avoided if the Government had only taken the right action.

“We need better antibiotic prescribing and hygiene but also proper isolation facilities in hospitals to stop infections spreading. But Labour have broken their promises on this and three-quarters of hospitals still lack proper isolation facilities.”

Michael Summers, of the Patients’ Association, said fear of infections continued to dissuade some patients from going into hospital for operations: “These figures show a huge increase in deaths since 2001, which cannot just be explained by better reporting.”

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