MINISTERS have been accused of sitting on the report that uncovered how hospital bosses botched the handling of a Clostridium Difficile (C-diff) outbreak at three Kent hospitals, it has been claimed.

Shadow Conservative health secretary Andrew Lansley said an initial report on the scandal was presented to ministers in early May.

Mr Lansley called on the Government to explain why it had waited until October to take action.

The Department for Health dismissed the complaint and insisted the initial report was an early draft that had not incorporated any recommendations and conclusions.

In an open letter to the health secretary, Mr Lansley writes: "Since the failings of leadership at the trust were such as to require you to accept the chairman's resignation on October 14, what had you done, months before, to address the significant failings of the trust?

"Why has action by ministers and the department have to wait until the public outcry?"

In reply, health secretary Alan Johnson said his department had received a partial version of the report and that the trust was challenging both facts and, as a consequence, judgements based on those facts.

Mr Johnson added: "This does not mean that action was not being taken at that time and before by the [Healthcare] Commission and the SHA [Strategic Health Authority] to make sure the trust was in better control of infection prevention."

The Healthcare Commission concluded that as many as 90 people had died between 2004 and 2006 in two separate outbreaks of C-diff.