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The hospitals which recorded the highest number of deaths involving MRSA or Clostridium difficile infections - which have been linked to poor hygiene - were named for the first time today.

The Office for National Statistics published a list based on the cause of death mentioned on death certificates issued in the four years from 2002 - 06. The list does not constitute a league table, as it records only the number of deaths, not the death rate compared to the number of patients treated overall.

At the top comes the Royal United Hospital in Bath, where 268 people died who had either C diff or MRSA recorded on their death certificate - more than 3 per cent of deaths at the hospital at the time.

The George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton lost 235 patients to the C diff infection which, again, represents more than 3 per cent of deaths at the hospital.

Walsgrave Hospital in Coventry recorded 233 deaths involving C diff, the Royal Infirmary in Leicester recorded 203 deaths involving C diff, and Kettering General Hospital recorded 200 deaths from the bug.

The table confirms that C diff is a bigger killer than MRSA, despite receiving less publicity. Derriford Hospital in Plymouth recorded the highest number of deaths involving MRSA, with 94.

Next came Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth with 81, Maelor Hospital in Wrexham with 79, Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton with 77 and The Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton with 75.

The ONS warned that the figures for total deaths might not indicate high death rates because they do not take into account the number of patients treated. Bigger hospitals which treat more patients would expect to have more deaths from the bugs, it said.

Some 218 institutions are included in the figures - 217 hospitals and one hospice - where more than 2,500 people died from any cause.

They do not represent all deaths from C diff or MRSA but show only that it was mentioned on the death certificate, the ONS cautioned. Nor do they show where the infection was picked up.

In a separate development, Lincoln County Hospital admitted that 30 cardboard cutout nurses placed in its foyer which had been programmed to remind visitors to wash their hands had been vandalised, allegedly in order to play the theme tune from Mission Impossible. One had been set to shout 'Boo!' at visitors, according to reports.

"We are obviously very disappointed that this has been done and that those responsible don’t take infection control and prevention as seriously as we do,” said a spokeswoman for the United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, in a statement.

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