Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon told MSPs there would be a review examining when members of the public should be told about outbreaks of Clostridium difficile in hospitals.

Ms Sturgeon was responding to a speech from Labour health spokesperson Jackie Baillie, who choked back tears as she read from a letter sent to her by the family of one of the victims of a recent outbreak in Dundee.

Ms Baillie was leading a Scottish Labour Party debate on C.difficile, a week after it emerged the infection had killed two people and contributed to the deaths of three others at Ninewells Hospital.

Ms Sturgeon agreed with Jackie Baillie that hospital based infections are "the biggest challenge" faced by the NHS.

She insisted families had been kept fully informed about the situation, but said the Government would look again at how soon the public should be told about new cases of the hospital-based infection.

However, Ms Baillie said claims of transparency were branded "utter rubbish" by relatives of one of the victims in a letter. It read: "Never at any time were we aware or had been told that it was the virulent 027 strain. This information we have distressingly had to read in our local newspapers."

The family said they were: "extremely upset by the lack of continuity between staff with their hygiene". They alleged that on one visit to the ward, they found faeces on the floor, sink and on their mother's night-dress and slippers.

The letter also claimed an oxygen mask, blanket and pillow were found lying on the floor after they had been told the disease had become airborne.

Ms Baillie branded their experience "heartbreaking" and said the "most basic lessons" from a previous C.difficile outbreak at the Vale of Leven Hospital in West Dunbartonshire had not been learned at Ninewells Hospital.

However, Ms Sturgeon insisted progress was being made. She said: "Since this Government took office, rates of C.difficile have come down by more than 40%.

"That's not good enough but it's progress that Jackie Baillie should've acknowledged more prominently in the speech she made."

The Health Secretary said the family mentioned had also written to her and NHS Tayside had been ordered to investigate the claims.

However, a number of MSPs expressed concern that hospital staff were being criticised and victimised unfairly in some cases.

Lib Dem Ross Finnie told MSPs he sympathised with the Royal College of Nursing which said the high number of action plans and strategies were causing "stress and confusion" among staff.

The organisation said it wants a moratorium on new initiatives unless they are clearly needed, a call which Mr Finnie described as "important".

He added that a public inquiry into the C.difficile outbreak at Vale of Leven must now be widened to take in other cases.

"Whilst I think the public will welcome Lord MacLean reporting on the outbreak at the Vale of Leven, I think the public will think it more than a little odd if the findings of his report have not been informed by the circumstances surrounding the other outbreaks."

Tory Mary Scanlon also spoke in defence of NHS staff, describing them as "trained, competent and committed" to tackling the infection.

She also criticised Labour for the delay in introducing mandatory surveillance of C.difficile until late 2006 when they were in power. The measure was introduced two years earlier in England.  Ms Sturgeon also suggested the delay in introducing surveillance here was partly responsible for a faster decrease in cases south of the border.

MSPs are considering Labour calls for a website telling the public about hospital's records on hospital based infections.