HC Deb 25 February 2002 vol 380 c978W
Harry Cohen

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will made a statement on NHS policy in respect of a cleanliness standard for patients; whether the Chief Medical Officer has made recommendations on this; whether guidelines to hospital and health trusts have been issued by his Department; and if he will make a statement. [32522]

Ms Blears

The National Standards of Cleanliness for the national health service were announced in April 2001.

The standards provide a comprehensive basis which hospitals can adapt for local requirements. They measure what is, or is not, clean.

All hospitals will be required to report a score against the National Standards of Cleanliness for the NHS on an annual basis. This score will form part of the Performance Assessment Framework by which trusts performance against key targets is assessed.

For the first time, members of the public will know how their local hospital compares against other hospitals in terms of actual cleanliness.

All trusts in England have received guidelines on how to implement the National Standards of Cleanliness for the NHS, and a series of regional workshops were held in November 2001 to support this initiative.