NEW figures show a fall in superbug infection rates in Worcestershire hospitals, including Kidderminster's.

Health chiefs at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust have hailed the statistics as showing a significant reduction in rates of Clostridium difficile - Cdiff - infections acquired by patients at Kidderminster, Worcestershire Royal and Redditch's Alexandra hospitals.

The doctor leading trust's fight against infections has warned, however, that with Cdiff still a major health risk in the community as well as in hospitals, neither the public nor hospital staff can be complacent.

Consultant microbiologist, Dr Anne Dyas, the trust's director of infection prevention and control, said: "Every month for the first nine months of 2007 - January to September - we have seen significantly lower rates of Cdiff than for the equivalent month in 2006.

"The total number of cases of infection acquired by patients admitted during August was only 11 and, in September, the equivalent figure was 17. This is at least a 50 per cent reduction on the same months last year.

"We have been putting a huge amount of effort into raising awareness among staff, patients and visitors of the need for high standards of cleanliness and personal hygiene to avoid the spread of infection and these figures suggest that those efforts are having an impact.

"However, we need to remain vigilant and understand that Cdiff is an infection which can strike vulnerable people outside hospital as well as inside.

"During April to June this year, we identified 101 patients who clearly acquired their infection during their current in-patient stay.

"There were a further 66 patients, some in the community, some in PCT hospitals and some whose first positive specimen was collected on the day of admission. The source of their infection has not been confirmed but indicates that this is a community-wide problem."

The trust's chief executive John Rostill, added: "We know that infections like Cdiff are a major cause of concern for people when they have to come into hospital.

"However, it is important to put these figures in context. The Cdiff figures for August and September - 11 and 17 - were during a period when we admitted more than 17,000 patients for treatment.

"The year-on-year decrease in Cdiff rates is even more encouraging when you realise that they were achieved against a background of significantly more patients being admitted."