SIR. Most people would view 116 premature deaths from superbug infections caught in hospital as an extremely serious matter that deserves the fullest scrutiny.

Indeed, one would expect the local MP of a hospital where such tragedies occurred to be leading the calls for a thorough investigation. There is little in politics that really is a life or death issue like this.

Yet this is not how Tooting MP Sadiq Khan greeted the news that superbugs had caused the deaths of all these patients at St George's Hospital over the past three years.

Instead, he sang the hospital's praises, accused critics of being "alarmist" and tried to divert attention from this deeply worrying news by launching an extraordinary attack on the council's health scrutiny committee.

Mr Khan thinks it's outrageous that the committee has asked hospital chiefs for a report on these deaths so that we can find out how they occurred and what is being done to ensure they do not happen again.

According to him, this is proof that the committee "prefers to play party politics rather than a proper partnership with the hospital".

I shall let your readers judge for themselves who is playing party politics here.

Mr Khan seems to be unaware that councils were given a legal responsibility to monitor their local NHS in 2003.

Wandsworth was one of the first councils to embrace these new scrutiny powers and we make absolutely no apology for doing this job properly.

Is Mr Khan really saying that the premature deaths of 116 people is not one that should be looked at under these powers?

Councillor Ian Hart
Chairman, Wandsworth health overview and scrutiny committee