The figures show 91 patients at Hemel Hempstead Hospital died from clostridium difficile between 2001 and 2006 and 24 from MRSA.

At Watford General Hospital over the same period there were 83 deaths from clostridium difficile and 25 from MRSA.

The government statistics show a doubling in deaths from clostridium difficile in 2006, but West Herts Hospitals Trust says this was because of a change in the way the figures were compiled.

Trust chief executive Jan Filochowski said the latest figures showed a dramatic fall in deaths from infections.

"Our figures are not the worst in the country," he said.

He said in the last quarter of 2007 there were 14 deaths from clostridium difficile and just three in the first quarter of this year.

Cases of the bug had dropped from 50 a month a year ago - when it was described as 'endemic' in the trust - to seven in April.

However, the trust missed its annual target for MRSA with 37 cases against a goal of 18.

But Mr Filochowski said there had been just two cases of MRSA in the last two months.

He said the reduction in clostridium difficile had been achieved by opening isolation wards, clamping down on hygiene and cutting use of antibiotics.

"We have probably now got one of the lowest incidences in the country," he said.

"It's something we're immensely proud of.

"We've got to sustain it obviously."

Recently it emerged that doctors at the trust were the worst culprits when it came to failing to wash hands.

Action has been taken in light of audits that show while at least 96 per cent of nurses wash their hands, for doctors the figure is 85 per cent.

As a result a number of warnings have been issued.