The Conservative leader has said that Tony Blair's healthcare targets are killing hospital patients.

Responding to the release of new figures on the MRSA superbug on Thursday, Michael Howard accused the prime minister of presiding over an upsurge in the deadly disease.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show the number of death certificates mentioning MRSA almost doubled from 487 in 1999 to 955 in 2003.

Howard added that National Audit Office research indicated that hospital managers were afraid to take action for fear of missing Department of Health set goals.

"This means patients are dying because of Mr Blair's targets," he said, in a ratcheting up of pre-election personal criticism of the prime minister.

"Florence Nightingale said the first requirement of any hospital is that it should not harm its patients.

"Britain is a first-class country and we deserve a first-class health service."

The full picture

The Conservatives are pledging to give hospital matrons reintroduced by the government the power to shut down dirty wards.

However Downing Street said the raw statistics did not give the full picture.

"We recognise that this is a very serious issue," the prime minister's official spokesman said.

"However, part of the reason for the large rise is due to an increase in reporting of the incidence of MRSA.

"That is not the only reason and John Reid has set out new measures which are already having a beneficial effect."