The number of E. coli cases in Kensington and Chelsea almost doubled in 2014 compared to the year before.

Last year there were 144 cases of the food poisoning from the West London NHS CCG area, which covers Kensington and Chelsea, Queen’s Park and Paddington – up 48.5% from 97 cases in 2013, according to figures released this week by Public Health England.

In Hammersmith and Fulham, cases went up by 21.3% in 2014, from 61 cases to 74, but in Westminster they went down by 8.3% from 72 to 66.

All areas saw a big decrease in superbug MRSA (or staph) which is often caught in hospitals or nursing homes and infects the skin which can cause blood poisoning or an infection of the heart’s inner lining.

Both Hammersmith and Fulham and West London CCG had a 40% decrease in cases in 2014, with just three and six cases respectively and Westminster had a 33.3% reduction with two cases in 2014.

In 2010, a new superbug lab was launched at Charing Cross Hospital which also serves St Mary’s and Chelsea and Westminster Hospitals. It was the first of its kind in Europe.