A DECISION to shut a hospital ward which treated patients suffering from a superbug is being reviewed after a coroner raised concerns about a rise in deaths.

The University Hospital of North Staffordshire shut ward 122 in January because cases of the superbug C-Difficile had been falling so sharply, half its 18 beds were empty.

Instead the trust running the hospital reverted to a previous practice of nursing patients in side rooms of general wards in the hope that would be enough to stop the infection spreading.

But since then cases of C-Diff have started to go up again, with 28 victims reported in March – the highest monthly toll since last summer.

Now North Staffordshire Coroner Ian Smith has voiced his concerns to hospital chief executive Julia Bridgewater after seeing C-Diff play a bigger part in deaths he has investigated since the New Year.

He said: "Ward 122 had specialist staff trained in dealing with patients with this infection. Having seen increasing numbers of cases reported to me over the last few months I contacted her to question the wisdom of closing it."

Mrs Bridgewater said last night: "Despite the bed reductions we need to make, I will do whatever I have to do to prevent the spread of the infection.

"There will be no compromise over C-Diff nor any trade-off between it and bed reductions."

The equivalent of nine wards will be shut at the Hartshill complex, representing around one in four of its 1,200 beds, as a result of plans to move some health services into GP surgeries.

Chief nurse Liz Rix said the trust had beaten its target for restricting cases of C-Diff over the whole year but there had been an increase over the past few months.

She added: "We are reviewing this to see if we need to change the way we treat patients.

"The time has come to look at whether we should now reopen ward 122."

The trust has also been told by the West Midlands Strategic Health Authority (SHA) to step up cleaning, recruit more domestic staff and clamp down on the number of times patients are switched between wards increasing the spread of the infection.

Among the SHA recommendations is to review the prescription of antibiotics in both the hospitals and the community as over-use of the drugs is linked to the bug.

Latest figures show that there were 276 cases in the year to the end of March compared to a maximum government target of 348.

The hospital has set itself a target to wipe out the infection by 2014.

The incidence of other hospital superbug MRSA at the complex was just 26, well below its target of 44 for the 12 months.

Helen Jenkinson, deputy director of infection control at the hospital, said: "Clear recommendations were made from the meeting with the whole North Staffordshire health authority and the SHA.

"They included increased cleaning, more capacity in the rapid response cleaning team, the need to reduce patient transfers within the hospital and to review prescribing of antibiotics. "

She added that an outbreak of a new strain of hospital superbug unique to Stoke-on-Trent was under control.