NHS trust in superbug outbreak that killed 90 plans hospital with a room for each patient

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The C diff bug was linked to 90 deaths last year at the Maidstone, Kent and Sussex and Pembury Hospitals in Kent

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The NHS trust at the centre of a major C.diff scandal that claimed scores of lives is set to build Britain's first anti-superbug hospital - with a room and en suite bathroom for each patient.

An outbreak of clostridium difficile at Kent hospitals run by Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, between 2004 and 2006, was directly linked to 90 deaths and affected more than 1,100 people.

Now Health Secretary Alan Johnson has given it the go-ahead for a new £226 million hospital which completely abandons the traditional NHS ward.

Building work on the privately-funded 512-bed Pembury Hospital near Tonbridge, Kent, will start within weeks.

Its doors could open to patients early in 2011.

Trust chief executive Glenn Douglas said it would "set a new standard in NHS care".

He added: "Local people have waited a long time for this fantastic news and we look forward to the day when the doors of this world-class building open in three years' time."

Architects say the new development will spark a revolution in hospital design, enabling hospital staff to manage and control the spread of infections and introduce a natural "healing environment" to NHS care.

Chief architect John Cooper, said: "It is the first major NHS hospital where you won't have to share a bedroom. This is so important for reducing hospital infections, which has become such a major issue."

The trust came under fire last year after a Healthcare Commission directly linked the C.diff bug to 90 deaths at the Maidstone, Kent and Sussex and Pembury Hospitals in Kent. The report blamed poor hygiene.

Mr Douglas's predecessor as chief executive, Rose Gibb, resigned from her £150,000-a-year job last October, days before the report criticised her handling of the outbreak.

In the year to March 2007 there were 6,378 MRSA cases reported in Britain. C.diff, which usually affects the elderly, can prove fatal and is very difficult to eradicate from the ward environment.

The five-storey Pembury Hospital, to be built on land below the current Pembury Hospital, near Tunbridge Wells, will replace both the existing Pembury and Kent and Sussex hospitals.

Treatment and emergency areas will be separated to reduce infection risk.

Maternity and children's services will be combined in a women and children's zone.

Inpatient and outpatient facilities will also be separated for the sake of patient privacy.

An array of safety features will include bedrooms with en-suite doors on the same wall as the bed so patients do not risk slips, trips and falls when crossing an open floor.

Mr Cooper said the surrounding land would be stripped of commercial plantings and returned to the heathland that existed on the site until 200 years ago.

The ancient woodland will stretch into the building area to create a "healing environment" and "therapeutic landscape" for patients, according to a trust spokesman.

He said: "The revolutionary building is great news for the trust and all patients that will enjoy the many benefits of having single rooms with privacy and dignity."

But he emphasised that new designs would not replace basic health practices, saying: "Good hand hygiene and cleaning remains one of the most effective measures."

Greg Clark, Tory MP for Tunbridge Wells, welcomed today's announcement.

He said: "The whole community has campaigned so long for the new Pembury Hospital to be built, and after years of frustration and setback we now have the final go-ahead."

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