A BBC Panorama special on the subject claims that the hospital infection - which kills four times as many people as MRSA - is now responsible for the death of one person every hour.

The Department of Health refuted the country comparison claim, stating there was no evidence that mortality is significantly higher in the UK.

C.diff causes diarrhoea ranging from mild cases to severe illness and can be fatal. Elderly patients who have been treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics are at particular risk.

Government figures show that for 65s and over C.diff infection rates have fallen by 23% year on year.

But Panorama claims that the way cases are counted has changed and that the true figure for overall numbers infected is substantially higher.

Responding to the claim that 10 times as many over-65s die of C-diff in the UK than any other country, a Department of Health spokeswoman said: "We do not recognise this figure. We are not aware of any evidence that mortality is significantly higher in the UK.

"Tackling C. difficile is a top priority for our NHS and for this Government. We take this issue extremely seriously."

Ann Keen, Minister for Health Services said: "NHS staff have worked extremely hard to drive down numbers of infections and I'm pleased to see significant reductions compared to the previous year.

"However, one case of avoidable infection is one too many and I am challenging the NHS to make full use of the resources at their disposal to eradicate avoidable infections."