A GRIEVING daughter has lashed out at Southampton hospital bosses, claiming staff knew that her father had a debilitating superbug before they sent him home.

John Irving died of pneumonia shortly after spending a week at his Totton home, where his family were forced to nurse him through the chronic diarrhoea symptoms of the superbug Clostridium difficile (C diff).

His daughter Elaine Munday and her family say they are adamant that he picked up the infection when he was staying at Southampton General Hospital and that the condition accelerated his death. They also claim staff at the hospital knew that he was suffering from diarrhoea, as they even sent the 76-year-old home with a pair of soiled trousers they had packed on top of his clean clothes.

Now she says that she has been left bewildered by statistics, released yesterday, which show that the number of cases of the hospital superbugs C diff and MRSA are on the decrease on city wards and at hospitals around the county.

She said: "We are disgusted with the overall standard of care our father received and can't help but feel that the hospital realised he had diarrhoea and that's why he was discharged so abruptly.

"They must have known he had C diff because when we got home a pair of his soiled trousers had been packed into his suitcase along with clean clothes.

"The infection must have made him more vulnerable and by the time he went back into hospital he was very weak. Our doctor said he should never have been released from hospital in the first place.

"I can't believe they are getting on top of infection rates."

Southampton University Hospital NHS Trust is to launch a thorough investigation into the complaint.

The attack by Mr Irving's family comes just 24 hours after the Health Protection Agency found that cases of C diff had dropped at the trust's four hospitals, from 219 between April and June 2006 to 173 in the same period this year.

Cases of MRSA were also found to have dropped sharply earlier this year, from 15 cases between January and March to just six between April and June.

Mrs Munday and her family said that the drop in numbers was not enough to stop her father contracting the infection. An inquest into his death is now due to be held.

Elaine's sister Sue Irving said: "These figures just cannot be true.

"They must have known dad had C diff - I honestly feel that. To shove trousers like that on top of clean clothing, it was awful. The staff knew what C diff was and we didn't.

"We will take this as far as we can if we can prevent one other family from having to go through what we have. We want justice for dad and to stop this happening to anybody else."

SUHT's medical director William Roche said: "I am unable to comment about the specific details surrounding Mr Irving's care at Southampton General Hospital. We have received a complaint from his family and any concerns they have will be thoroughly investigated."

Meanwhile infection rates at hospitals around Hampshire also appear to be falling. The number of cases of C Diff fell at all three of the region's hospital trusts, only increasing on the Isle of Wight. MRSA figures also improved, with only the Winchester and Eastleigh NHS Trust showing an increase, of just one extra case.