C-Difficile levels 'scandalous'
Failure to ensure higher levels of hygiene in our hospitals is killing older people
Help the Aged today responded to news that the number of deaths involving clostridium difficile rose by 72 per cent between 2005 and 2006. Charlotte Potter, senior policy officer at Help the Aged said: "Failure to ensure high levels of hygiene in our hospitals is killing older people - more than 80 per cent of cases are reported in the over-65s.
"Allowing C-difficile to survive at these scandalous levels is akin to taking a scythe to some of the most ill and vulnerable people in our society - older people are at far greater risk of infection than most.
"Everybody should be able to go into hospital in the hope of getting better, not to run the risk of acquiring other illnesses as a result of poor hygiene.
"Through Research into Ageing, Help the Aged is conducting a wealth of medical research into how to improve older people's ability to fight infection".
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