SOPHISTICATED equipment capable of destroying superbugs has been tested by the Kent hospital at the centre of the C-diff scandal.

Staff at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust have been testing an air disinfection unit which can destroy airbourne superbugs.

The equipment is said to be 98 per cent effective at destroying germs in the air, including C-diff, MRSA and E.coli.

A trust spokesman said: "Our infection control team conducted a test of this equipment on a ward at Maidstone Hospital around the end of September into the beginning of October.

"The results are now being analysed to see whether this equipment can help to further reduce and improve upon the reductions the trust has seen in hospital-acquired infections over the past year."

The disinfection machines have evolved from 1960s technology developed to protect Britain from biological weapons.

They have been approved by an NHS ethics committee, for use in hospitals after trials at several hospitals across the UK.

In addition to the tests of the machines, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced earlier this month that all hospitals will be deep cleaned.

Earlier this month a Healthcare Commission report revealed 90 people had died, who had contracted C-diff, at the trust's three hospitals, between April 2004 and September 2006.

Latest figures show there have been 93 fewer cases of C-diff at the three trust hospitals compared to a similar period last year.

Between April and September this year there were 165 cases, compared to 258 cases in April to September 2006.