Why have ministers been sitting on a report that shows a dramatic link between outbreaks of hospital superbugs and high levels of bed occupancy? I understand that the report, commissioned by the Department of Health and based on research covering every hospital in England, reveals that MRSA rates are a staggering 42 per cent higher in hospitals with bed occupancy rates of 90 per cent or more than in those with occupancy rates below 85 per cent. In hospitals where bed occupancy rates are 85-90 per cent, infection rates are 16 per cent higher. In spite of rising public anxiety about hospital infections, I am told that this research, which covered 2001-02 to 2002-03, has been gathering dust for more than two years.

Had ministers acted on the research instead of suppressing it, lives might have been saved – not least in hospitals run by the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Trust, where superbugs killed at least 90 patients. In a damning report on the Maidstone tragedy last week, the Healthcare Commission blamed “pressure on beds” and the trust’s desire to meet government targets.