HL Deb 27 September 2000 vol 616 cc180-1WA
Lord Lester of Herne Hill

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will publish performance standards of cleanliness in National Health Service hospitals and introduce effective means of securing compliance with those standards in every National Health Service hospital. [HL3607]

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

I was delighted to announce a major new "Hospital Clean-Up" initiative on 31 July to improve standards of cleanliness in National Health Service hospitals. This forms an important part of the NHS Plan published on 27 July.

We recently published "Standards for Environmental Cleanliness in Hospitals" and issued this to all NHS trust chief executives. These standards were developed jointly with the Association of Domestic Managers and the Infection Control Nurses Association;

  • A nation-wide clean-up campaign throughout the NHS starting immediately;
  • Over £30 million now allocated direct to hospital trusts to bring immediate, tangible improvements to the patient environment in all hospitals;
  • The setting up of patient environment action teams to visit every NHS trust in England within the next six months; and
  • All NHS trusts will be required to produce action plans to show how they will meet and maintain standards.

As a result of this initiative we expect to see clean wards, tidy corridors, welcoming front entrances and safer hospitals. Cleanliness of hospitals will be included in the national performance assessment framework to ensure that standards are maintained.