---

Health Care-Associated Infections

I welcome, and agree with, that intervention. I have taken the matter up and have received a letter from the Society of Registration Officers. It says that it is not down to its officers to decide what is on a death certificate, but that they have to put down what the doctor says. I can understand that when Opposition politicians are jumping up and down and complaining, people in hospitals where there is concern about C. difficile are under pressure not to record the facts properly. I know that the Government are beginning to take this seriously, because I have been given a document, dated 3 October, in which the chief medical officer says:"““there is still a widespread belief that the figures underestimate the mortality associated with both MRSA and C. difficile. This is compounded by the idea that doctors are reluctant to put information about HCAIs on certificates, or indeed that they are discouraged from doing so.””" My point is that we must have tougher standards, so that we properly record the number of C. difficile deaths. Unless we do that, we will never be able to tackle the problem.