PM Gordon Brown was speaking at the Labour party conference in Bournemouth when he vowed to give all hospitals a deep clean over the next 12 months in a bid to combat infections like MRSA and Clostridium difficile.

Mr Brown was criticised for pandering to the popular vote and health officials want to remind people that MRSA is mainly a people-borne disease.

However a spokesman for Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust said that the C. diff spores can survive for a long time and a chlorine based disinfectant is needed to combat the problem.

Management at the trust were severely criticised by the Healthcare Commission over the handling of an outbreak of C. diff in 2006, but earlier this year they were praised for being one of the top trusts in the country for fighting superbugs.

In July, director of infection prevention and control, Jean O'Driscoll told The Bucks Herald that they were running health and safety courses with staff along with hand hygiene initiatives and researching how an outbreak develops.

She is now working as part of a Department of Health working party giving national guidance on the management and control of C. diff.

Speaking following the Prime Minister's comments, Dr O'Driscoll said: "Deep cleaning is a valuable adjunct in the control of healthcare-acquired infections such as MRSA and C.difficile, and has already been used on several occasions at Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

"The current cleaning standards across the trust are continuously monitored and any necessary remedial action taken if deficiencies are found," she said.

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