Although she said the Department of Health was monitoring hospital infections, she admitted that there were no national statistics on the number of patients who have to stay in hospital or be re-admitted because of infections.

Baroness Jay was replying to a question from former Conservative minister Baroness Young, who urged the government to make a "much greater effort" to collect information and confront the problem.

Hygiene

She said some people lacked knowledge of basic standards of hygiene and she warned against the risk of over-prescription of antibiotics.

Baroness Jay says one in 10 get ill in hospital

Over-use of antibiotics has led to MRSA (multi resistant staphlococcus aureus), one of the most common hospital bugs, becoming resistant to many treatments. Health experts are worried about containing the bug, which is reaching epidemic proportions and can be fatal.

MRSA is carried on the skin and mucous membranes, such as the nose.

Hospital patients and elderly people in nursing homes are particularly at risk of infection because they often have exposed wounds and a weakened immune system.

Surveillance

Baroness Jay said the Department of Health was working with the Public Health Laboratory to develop a new system for surveilling hospital-acquired infection.