Hospital inspectors uncovered a catalogue of filth, decay and malpractice five months AFTER a killer superbug outbreak began.

Eighteen people have died from the C.difficile bug at overcrowded Vale of Leven Hospital in six months.

Last night their relatives spoke of their shock at the squalor found on the wards.

Inspectors found the appalling conditions at the hospital - where the first C.diff case came in December - on May 27.

Since then, another patient has died partly as a result of contracting the bug and two more have been infected.

The shameful conditions included:

Wards with no working wash basins.

Dirty linen stored next to clean linen.

Filthy toilets and commodes soiled with excrement.

Corridors flooded because of faulty showers.

Holes in flooring and walls.

Mattresses stored on floors. The inspection was ordered at the hospital in Alexandria, Dunbartonshire, as bosses linked three C.diff cases and feared it was sweeping through the hospital.

It was later established C.diff had killed nine people and was implicated in the deaths of eight more between December and May. More than 50 were infected by the bug.

But campaigners are most shocked that a further C.diff-related death happened on June 23 - weeks after the inspection.

On June 11, a second report warned beds were too close together because of overcrowding. Some were 1.75 metres apart, much less than the Health and Safety Executive minimum of 3.6 metres.

The review added: "Many of the commodes were found not to be fit for use and require to be urgently replaced.

"Throughout the hospital, in both clinical and patient toilet areas, there is a lack of dedicated hand hygiene basins.

"In some clinical areas, there are no hygiene basins within a reasonable area and some toilets have no hygiene basins."

Scotland's top infection expert last night branded the conditions an ideal breeding ground for the deadly bug.

Professor Hugh Pennington said: "I have no doubt that initially people were infected because of the conditions there.

"Dirty toilets, patient areas not having wash hand basins, these are fundamental conditions which allow C.diff to spread.

"We learned all this in the 19th century and it's crazy these things are still going on. All these deaths in a small hospital - you can only explain that as there being something seriously wrong with the place."

Kim McGarrity, 26, of Bonhill, whose grandmother Ellen Gildea died in March, said: "It's a damning report. It's down to a lack of funding and resources.

"It's a hospital. It should be absolutely spotless and it clearly wasn't. My grandmother was taken to hospital suffering from a stroke and died as a result of this."

Sheila Chandler's father Alister Johnston died aged 66 of C.diff in March - two weeks after a test for the bug came up negative. He had been discharged but collapsed at home and was readmitted to the hospital.

Sheila said: "The hospital is in a very poor condition and not having enough sinks to wash hands is disgraceful.

"The staff try their hardest but the place clearly needs a lot of money spent on it to bring it up to a decent standard."

Michelle Stewart, whose mother-in-law Sarah McGinty died at the hospital in February, said: "We all feel very angry because this was left to go on so long. The response was totally unprofessional and the fact is it risked lives and cost lives.

"People died in Vale of Leven who could have been saved.

"We want to know why it took so long to get things done and what lessons will be learned from this."

The report was sent to the Scottish Government and Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board and an infection control team was given the task of improving conditions in the hospital.

Following its publication, the full horror of the outbreak began to emerge.

The latest death partly caused by C.diff emerged last month.

On Friday families who lost loved ones met up and agreed to write to Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon to demand a face-to-face meeting.

They are also calling for a full and independent public inquiry.

In a statement to the Scottish Parliament on June 18, Sturgeon outlined the full extent of the outbreak and admitted there were serious concerns over the hospital's infection control measures.

Labour health spokesman Dr Richard Simpson said: "The very best we can say about Nicola Sturgeon is that she failed to give Parliament a full and frank account of what happened.

"At worst, she deliberately misled MSPs."

Sturgeon said last night: "I made it clear in my statement on June 18 my concerns about the surveillance systems in place at Vale of Leven Hospital. It is the allegations made about me by the Labour Party that are not being frank."

'Many commodes were unfit for use and clinical and patient toilets have no hand basins' Inspectors' report

Infection control experts uncovered more than 140 hygiene horrors at Vale of Leven.The team visited eight wards and units. Here are some of the worst failings.

WARD 3

Commode soiled with excrement. Broken wall plaster. Water flooding from the shower into the corridor due to faulty seals. Leaking toilet. No wash-hand sink in a patient toilet. No sinks in four-bedded rooms.

WARD 5

Staff and patients forced to wash hands in sink in the corridor due to a lack of sinks in bed areas. Broken floor areas. Soiled toilet seat in the shower room. Intravenous fluid boxes being stored on the floor of the treatment room. No dedicated wash-hand sink in the treatment room.

CRITICAL CARE UNIT

No dedicated wash-hand sink in the room used for cleaning bedpans. No sink in the patient toilet. Staff and patients also had to use a wash-hand sink in the corridor because one fourbed area had no sink.

WARD 14

Linen stored in the patient day room. Cracked walls in the dining area. Clean linen also stored beside dirty linen. Floors in an "extremely poor" state in several single rooms.

WARD 15

Clean linen stored beside soiled linen. Broken flooring all over the ward. No proper hand-wash facilities in the room used for cleaning bedpans. Only cold water available at one sink.

WARD F

Limited access to wash-hand sink. Uncovered linen trolley in treatment room. Broken bath in one of the bathrooms.