Watford General has seen the biggest reduction in the number of patients contracting infections of any hospital in the country.

A health report found the number of people catching the hospital bug clostridium difficile (C-diff) at the Vicarage Road hospital has had the biggest percentage decrease of any acute hospital in England.

The figures for West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust have been published by the Health Protection Agency and relate to the period between April and June this year.

They show a reduction of 64 per cent in west Herts - compared to a 21 per cent drop nationally - when compared to the number of infections last year.

Chief executive of the trust, Jan Filochowski, said he was “delighted” with the findings, which, he said, confirmed the “enormous improvements” it has made in reducing hospital acquired infections. However, he said the figures hid an even bigger improvement locally.

Mr Filochowski said: “Although they show the biggest improvement across England, our more up to date figures show an even greater improvement.

“Our C-diff infection rates show a staggering reduction in the last twelve months – 86 cases in August 2007 and only four in August 2008.”

Watford General was inspected on October 13 by the East of England Infection Control team. In their report they congratulated the trust on “a stunning performance”.

Mr Filochowski added: “We have introduced a number of measures to combat infections including reinforcing hand hygiene, opening isolation wards, weekly hygiene audits and reducing the prescribing of certain antibiotics which reduce resistance to infections.

“This fantastic achievement has been made possible by an organisation-wide effort based on the hard work of all our staff.

“Patient safety remains our number one priority and our hospitals are now amongst the safest in the country on infection.”