Thousands of patients are at increased risk of contracting MRSA and other "superbugs" because of hospital overcrowding in more than half of NHS trusts, it is reported.
The Daily Telegraph said 216 trusts in England - about 52% of the total - had bed occupancy rates in excess of 85%, the Government's recommended maximum safety level. The figures include 95 trusts where the occupancy rate is 90%.
Government experts advise the rate should be held below 85% if the hospitals are to succeed in combating infections like MRSA and C difficile.
The figures were compiled by the Liberal Democrats' health spokesman Norman Lamb, who warned they would have an impact on infection rates.
"If you are full there is more pressure, there is less slack in the system, it becomes much more difficult to keep patients clean, it becomes much more difficult to isolate patients," he said.
"It makes it harder to fight the growing incidents of hospital-acquired infections which means there are more people at risk of contracting infections and more risk of dying."
The Department of Health said that risk of contracting MRSA was "low".
"The NHS treats a million people every 36 hours and there were 7,000 MRSA bloodstream infections last year," a spokesman said.
"The NHS is working hard to treat more patients and this means it needs to work even harder to reduce the risk of infection.
"Guidance was issued in the Chief Medical Officer's Winning Ways report, which required chief executives to ensure that infection control teams work with bed managers to optimise bed use while implementing procedures to minimise the risk of infection."
