NURSES are to be given legal advice before being questioned by police over a string of deaths during an outbreak of the Clostridium difficile bug.

NURSES are to be given legal advice before being questioned by police over a string of deaths during an outbreak of the Clostridium difficile bug.

The outbreak was linked to 18 deaths at the Vale of Leven Hospital in Alexandria, Dunbartonshire, and affected 55 people between December 2007 and last June.

Police and health inspectors launched an investigation following publication of an independent report last summer.

Norman Provan, of the Royal College of Nurses Scotland, said: "For those who are asked to attend police interviews, we are arranging for them to meet our legal advisers before being interviewed."

It is unusual for police to question NHS staff over outbreaks of healthcare-associated infections.

Both Strathclyde Police and the Health and Safety Executive are involved in the inquiry and will submit reports to the fiscal.

Meanwhile, Dumbarton Labour MSP Jackie Baillie and Scotland's top microbiologist Professor Hugh Pennington today said a regulatory body must be appointed to reduce deadly Hospital Acquired Infections.

They are urging the Scottish Government to adopt a series of measures to cut the number of deaths caused by diseases such as C-difficile.

They say it must aim to cut C-diff cases by 50% by 2011 and believe a Commissioner on Hospital Acquired Infections should be appointed to drive the process.

The measures they suggest include better handwashing facilities, independent inspection teams to ensure infection control guidelines are being properly implemented, immediate detailed analysis at ward-level, a sterile hygiene system for staff uniforms and facilities for steam-cleaning beds at every hospital.

Professor Pennington said the package drew on tried and tested international practice and would bring Scotland into line with other countries that have controlled Hospital Acquired Infections more effectively.