By JOEL SAWYER

CLEANLINESS standards in hospitals in Warrington are on the up.

Both Warrington Hospital and Warrington Community Healthcare NHS Trusts have come out of a Government review with sparkling results.

The NHS Executive published the first national standards for hospital cleaning last week.

They have been prepared in consultation with experts and professionals in the fields of cleanliness and infection control and cover five key objectives taking cleanliness seriously, listening to patients, infection control, education and development, and monitoring.

Standard grades range from red, which is poor, to yellow, which is acceptable, and green, which is excellent and both trusts are out of the red.

The hospital has been graded as yellow an improvement on the red grading last August while the healthcare trust has maintained a green level since last August.

Laura McMurtrie, WCHT chief executive, said: "We have put a lot of time and effort into maintaining high standards. Staff have put the effort in and we have put the resources in.

"We are particularly proud of having a new building and keeping standards up. We have been in this new building for four years and we will simply not let standards drop."

Paul Bond, director of estates and facilities at Warrington Hospital, said: "We are pleased that standards of cleanliness are continuing to rise.

"However, we recognise there is still room for improvement and during the months ahead will be working further to improve on this."