One hundred and sixteen people have died from superbugs MRSA and C Difficile in St George's Hospital in the last three years.

The deaths at the Tooting Hospital have all been caused by the bugs directly or indirectly, between November 2004 and September 2007, a Freedom of Information Act has revealed.

Ian Hart, chairman of Wandsworth Council's Health Overview and Scrutiny Panel, which oversees health in the borough, said: "These are totally preventable deaths and it is a great concern. It affects everyone but every death from a superbug is preventable."

The figures showed 95 patients died from C Difficile and 21 from MRSA during the period, and were obtained by Mark Clarke, the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Tooting.

Mr Clarke said: "Labour Ministers have failed to face up to the dangers of the C-diff superbug.

"I am very concerned that hardworking NHS staff are not getting the support they need to deliver a comprehensive strategy against hospital-acquired infections.

"In the last year, Labour have cut thousands of nursing jobs. It is little wonder that we have seen such a rise in C-diff infections."

David Astley, St George's Hospital Trust's chief executive, said: "In our opinion, each case of a hospital acquired infection is a serious incident but to put these numbers into context, last year the Trust treated 64,000 inpatients.

"In the past we have had a higher rate of hospital acquired infections when compared to other hospitals, but because of our improved performance the Health Protection Agency now lists us as the second best in the country for MRSA."

Last week the Healthcare Commission downgraded its rating for clinical services from a "good" performer to a "fair" performer.

It blasted the hospital for having inadequate systems for the control of infections - such as MRSA.

Mr Astley admitted the down-grading was due to MRSA. In the October edition of St George's staff monthly briefing memo - called One Message - he said: "The main cause for the fall in our performance rating is our success against reducing the number of cases of MRSA bloodstream infections."

The Trust is planning to go for foundation trust status next year after having turned around debts in excess of £20million.

The revelations will also be an embarrassment for the Government and Health Secretary Alan Johnson in particular - who at a visit to St George's three weeks described it as "a very special hospital".

The Health Secretary was also in the spotlight earlier this month when he described as "scandalous" the 90 deaths of patients who died from C Difficile in the care of Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust - discovered as a result of an investigation by the Healthcare Commission.

Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus is a potentially lethal bacterium that causes infections in humans and has a strong resistance to certain antibiotics.

Clostridium Difficile is a bacterial infection of the gut which mainly affects the elderly.