A quarter of hospital trusts are failing to meet hygiene standards introduced to tackle superbugs like MRSA and clostridium difficile, a government watchdog said today.
The Healthcare Commission said 44 out of 172 specialist hospital trusts did not comply with at least one of the government's three standards on infection control during the 2006-7 financial year.
But it said it did not believe the hospitals were unsafe.
"We recognise that patients are genuinely frightened of catching a superbug in hospital," said the watchdog's chief executive Anna Walker.
"Although most patients receive safe and effective care in the NHS, the risk of suffering an infection is higher than it should be."
Ms Walker was commenting on the findings of the Healthcare Commission's annual check of nearly 400 health bodies across England and Wales.
The watchdog said the government's Hygiene Code, introduced in October last year, had raised the bar on infection control and led to a more stringent assessment of hospital practices.
On Monday the chairman of the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Hospital Trust in Kent resigned after the watchdog criticised the trust for failing to prevent clostridium difficile outbreaks that contributed to the deaths of 90 patients in its care.