The number of cases of controversial hospital-acquired infections appears to have steadied and even shown a slight fall, according to figures released by the Health Protection Agency today.

The HPA data confirmed that there was a 10 per cent drop in cases of MRSA in England last year, from 7,069 in 2005-06 to 6,381 in 2006-07.

By contrast, cases of Clostridium difficile (C diff) were up seven per cent among the over 65 age group between 2005 and 2006 - up from 51,829 to 55,620.

Here, too, a more positive trend has recently emerged, however, with cases of C diff infection down by 13 per cent when this year's spring quarter is compared to the same three months last year.

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There were 13,660 cases in patients over the age of 65 between April and June this year, compared with 14,682 cases between April and June 2006.

The statistics are good news for the Government and for NHS managers, who have been strongly criticised over the number of patients who are dying as a result of dirty hospitals.

Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, and Christine Beasley, the Chief Nursing Officer, are due to tell NHS managers at a conference in London later today that hospital cleanliness is not an optional extra but a "first demand".

They were expected to elaborate on the Prime Minister's plans, announced in September, for a £50 million “deep cleaning” programme in hospital wards.

HPA experts were cautious in hailing the improving statistics on C diff. Georgia Duckworth, from the HPA Centre For Infections, acknowledged that there had been a reduction in the latest quarterly figures, but warned that "overall, this looks like a plateauing”.

She said that last year's annual rise of 7 per cent in cases of C diff had followed from a 16 per cent rise the year before.

“What it now looks like is that we might be going into the plateau. Let’s hope this marks the beginning of a plateauing that goes into a downturn,” she said.

She praised the progress against MRSA, however, adding that it was "a major achievement against the seemingly unstoppable rise in MRSA bloodstream infections throughout the 1990s".

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