Teams of specially trained cleaners have been put on 24-hour alert to stamp out superbug infections at Oxfordshire's major hospitals.

Managers are spending an extra £30-40,000 a month on the expert cleaners at Oxford's John Radcliffe and Churchill Hospitals and The Horton, Banbury, as part of a three-pronged attack on the Clostridium difficile bug and other bacteria.

The service, set up by the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, ensures isolation rooms and areas used by infected patients are given enhanced cleaning every day to prevent the spread of hospital infections.

ORH estates and facilities director Ian Humphries said the system had been in place since August.

He added: "We've established dedicated teams to provide this service, who can respond to nurses' requests on a 24/7 basis.

"They usually do an enhanced clean on a daily basis, and sometimes, like during the recent norovirus outbreak, they were doing their clean on a twice-daily basis.

"When patients are discharged or moved to a different ward they also do a clean.

"It's more than a general clean in the ward. The teams clean windows, doors, walls, and equipment used near the patient involved, using cleaning products with different chemicals to the normal detergents."

Demand for the cleaning teams has been falling recently, which is thought to be linked to the reduction in cases of C diff.

In July this year, 63 patients caught the bacteria, compared to 40 in October - a reduction of more than a third.

The emergency teams are run by different companies. At the JR they work for Carillion, which looks after domestic chores at the hospital, while at the Churchill they are employed by private firm ISS. The Horton has an in-house team.

But all teams have been trained according to the ORH infection control department's standards, and taught to use the cleaning solutions safely, because they contain sodium hydrochlorite, or bleach.

The cleaning regime is part of a three-pronged attack on C diff - a stomach bug which causes severe diarrhoea, and can be fatal in vulnerable people.

As part of the strategy patients are placed in isolation as soon as staff think they might have caught an infection. And because C diff finds it easier to prey on patients whose stomachs have been weakened by antibiotic drugs, the third part of the regime ensures doctors do not over-prescribe antibiotics.

Mr Humphries explained: "It's part of a structured approach to reduce, eliminate and manage infection."

The emergency cleaning teams are a separate initiative to the Government's deep-clean scheme, launched by Health Secretary Alan Johnson to tackle concerns about hospital infection.

Oxfordshire hospital trusts will take a share of £3.5m given to South Central Strategic Health Authority to carry out the work.

This will include changing curtains, washing windows, steam cleaning, and cleaning cupboards, light switches and telephone and computer equipment.