Hospitals are beginning to win the battle against superbug C.difficile, figures have revealed.

Data published last week showed the number of cases in Sussex hospitals has fallen over the past year.

In the three months to June, the bug struck 427 times across the county’s wards – down from 463 in the same period in 2007.

The biggest reduction was recorded by Royal West Sussex Trust, which runs St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester, where cases fell by 42% from 100 to 58.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals, which runs the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton and the Princess Royal in Haywards Heath, presided over a 24% fall in infections, from 162 to 123 cases over the 12-month period.

East Sussex Hospitals, which runs Eastbourne District General and the Conquest in Hastings, reduced its quarterly infection total by 15% from 77 to 65.

However, the county-wide drive to cut C.difficile was hampered by the performance of Worthing and Southlands Hospitals, where cases rose 29% from 74 to 96.

Surrey and Sussex Healthcare, which runs East Surrey Hospital in Redhill, used by residents in the north eastern part of West Sussex, allowed cases to rise by 70% from 50 to 85.

Nationally the figures from the Health Protection Agency showed a 35% decrease in infections.

Last month, separate figures revealed the number of cases of the MRSA superbug found in Sussex hospitals had more than halved in two years, from 79 between April to June 2006, to 34 in the three months to June this year.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson said: “It is immensely rewarding to see such a significant reduction in C.difficile following our investment in a comprehensive package of measures to drive down infections.”

But Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: “There are still an appalling number of people catching hospital infections in this country – almost 60,000 last year.

“It’s shameful evidence of Labour’s failure that deaths from Clostridium difficile every year are now more than eight times higher than they were when Labour came to power.”

What can hospitals do to cut the infection rate still further? Tell us below.