A WARD dedicated to treating patients with the deadly infection Clostridium Difficile will open at the QEII next month.

From Monday December 3 Cuffley ward, which is being refurbished, will take patients who test positive for the bug commonly known as C.diff to prevent it from spreading elsewhere in the Welwyn Garden City hospital.

It follows the success of a similar facility at the Lister Hospital in Stevenage that opened in September, and follows the trust's move to release figures that show a 43 per cent fall in cases compared to last year.

Noel Scanlon, the director of infection prevention and control for the East and North Herts Hospital Trust, which runs the hospital, said: "Clostridium difficile poses particular problems for us and the patients that we care for.

"It is one of the few infections that require hand washing with soap and water, rather than use of just alcohol gels. This is because it produces spores that can persist in the environment for some time and require extremely intensive cleaning to get rid of them.

"As a result C.diff can spread relatively easily, although thankfully it is mostly straightforward to treat."

"By bringing infected patients together, we can help to stop others getting infected and treat those on Cuffley more intensively.

"The overall aim is to improve the speed with which our patients recover and thus go home to their loved ones, while at the same time give even greater confidence to everyone that we take such infections very seriously indeed.

"The new ward, as well as its sister facility at the Lister, will be in operation for six months, after which their impact will be reviewed."

The isolation ward will be run by a senior sister with support from specially trained nurses in a variety of disciplines, including trauma and orthopaedics, general surgery and medicine.

It is expected to cost the Trust £200,000 over the initial four-month period.

The only exception to moving a patient to the ward is when it would harm their underlying health, for example a patient in an intensive care bed.