Can the superbugs ever be beaten?

“Cluttered, dirty and overcrowded” wards, “sloppy hygiene” practices among nurses and clinicians, including use of commodes and bedpans that had already been “condemned”, and board and management-level failure to respond to repeated requests for more nursing staff, were among the major contributors to the 90 elderly patient Clostridium difficile deaths at three large West Kent NHS hospitals between April 2004 and September 2006, a recent BBC 1 Panorama programme suggested. Health Estate Journal reports.