Sickness is a risk we all face but it shouldn’t be one we have to accept when we go into hospital.Recent figures published by the Department of Health show that Frimley Park NHS Foundation Trust, one of the top hospitals in the country, is also in the top ten worst hospitals for reported cases of the hospital bug C. difficile. Jeremy Hunt, MP for South West Surrey, said: “I have written to Andrew Morris, Chief Executive of Frimley Park urgently seeking an explanation for the worrying levels of C. difficile in the hospital”He went on to say that: “hospital acquired infections, and particularly MRSA, are a growing problem in our hospitals today. 5000 people now die of hospital acquired infections every year. “However, MRSA is not the only hospital acquired infection of serious concern. Unfortunately it appears that the Government’s recent narrow focus on MRSA, which has resulted in a target being set to halve MRSA infections by 2008, has lead to deteriorating rates for these other, untargeted, hospital acquired infections. “In my view hospitals, and their staff on the frontline, should be able to operate free from the constraints of Government targets and free to act on the basis of clinical need. In fact, by discouraging the closure of dirty wards and beds for cleaning, it is the Government’s targets that have contributed to the rise of hospital acquired infections in the first place.”1. The figures can be found at: http://www.dh.gov.uk/PublicationsAndStatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidanceArticle/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=4118344&chk=8JBr5/