The government has published new cleaning standards for hospitals in a bid to beat the MRSA "superbug".

Health minister Lord Warner set out revised national specifications for cleanliness following increasing levels of public and media concern over the infection which is hitting up to 100,000 patients per year.

The Department of Health also published the results of a cleanliness inspection programme which found that hospitals in England have shown a sharp improvement in performance during the course of the year.

Nearly half of hospitals were rated as excellent or good by the Department's Patient Environment Action Team, while another 49 per cent were considered to have acceptable standards.

Just 27 hospitals were considered to be poor or unacceptable whereas 90 were earlier in the year.