Too many hospital patients feel insecure because they fear infections such as MRSA, the Health Secretary said as he unveiled new measures to tackle superbugs.
Alan Johnson told the Labour Party conference that matrons would be empowered to "fight infection on the front line".
He said "real progress" was being made against MRSA but the "war" against Clostridium difficile must be intensified.
A new regulator - Ofcare - will be given powers to fine dirty hospitals and close wards, he said.
Mr Johnson also set out better protection for NHS staff working alone and called for greater patient access to GPs.
Mr Johnson told delegates in Bournemouth that "nothing better encapsulates the values of our party than the National Health Service".
He said the NHS emerged from a sense of national solidarity and had developed "as a testament to what can be achieved when radical thinking is combined with political courage".
While Labour could be proud of its record in the last decade, the focus must be on the future, he said.
"The public doesn't view history in neatly divided chunks, defined by which party was in Government.
"Whilst they will remember the trauma of long waiting times, shabby buildings and a crisis every winter in the Tory years, it's a fading memory, and their concerns are about the future."
