To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients at (a) West Suffolk Hospital, (b) Addenbrookes Hospital and (c) Ipswich Hospital died from Clostridium difficile in each of the last five years. (191591)

I have been asked to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 7 March 2008:

As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many patients at (a) West Suffolk Hospital, (b) Addenbrookes Hospital and (c) Ipswich Hospital died from Clostridium difficile in each of the last five years. (191591)

Special analyses of deaths involving Clostridium difficile in England and Wales are undertaken annually by ONS. The latest year for which figures are available is 2006. Information on the numbers of deaths between 1999 and 2006 involving Clostridium difficile was published in Health Statistics Quarterly in February 2008.¹ This publication is available in the House of Commons library.

ONS has not yet released any figures on deaths involving Clostridium difficile for individual hospitals. The possibility of producing figures for hospitals in the future is currently being investigated.

¹ Office for National Statistics (2006) Report: Deaths involving Clostridium difficile: England and Wales, 1999-2006. “Health Statistics Quarterly” 37, 52-56.