The high number of cases of winter vomiting disease in Bradford over the last year has uncovered more cases of the hospital bug Clostridium difficile.

From April 2007, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Found-ation Trust, which manages St Luke's and Bradford Royal Infirmary, was hit by 23 separate outbreaks of the Norovirus - known as winter vomiting disease.

The bug, which causes vomiting and diarrhoea, affected 433 people - 326 patients and 107 staff. The high numbers were mirrored across the country where the number of cases hit a high not seen since 2002.

Alison Hunt, an infection control nurse specialist for the Trust, told a meeting of the Patient and Public Involvement Forum for Bradford Teaching Hospitals, this had contributed to a increase in the number of Clostridium difficile - or C diff - cases being reported.

"Because we tested more patient samples for Norovirus this uncovered more patients who had C diff, even though many may not have had any symptoms," she said.

The Trust had expected to see about 240 cases of C diff from April 2007 to the end of January this year, however a total of 371 cases have been reported - 264 identified by Bradford Hospitals, 56 by community hospitals and 51 by GPs.

Yesterday, new figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed the number of death certificates in England and Wales that mentioned C diff had risen by 72 per cent between 2005 and 2006.

From April, the Government will issue all trusts with a target to reduce the number of C diff cases. Mrs Hunt said Bradford expected to be given a target of a 30 per cent reduction.

The meeting, at the Hilton Hotel, Bradford, heard Bradford Teaching Hospitals had also breached its target for the number of cases of MRSA.

The Trust has a Government-imposed target of no more than 26 cases between April 2007 and March 2008. At the end of January, 42 cases had been reported.

Mrs Hunt told the meeting improvements made at Bradford's hospitals included increasing the number of single rooms by 12.

Recent deep clean' money given to the trust by Bradford and Airedale Teaching Primary Care Trust, was being spent on upgrading bathrooms and toilets, replacing wooden and carpeted floors with vinyl and upgrading ward kitchens, the meeting was told.