THE Accident and Emergency department at York Hospital has been given a clean bill of health by NHS cleanliness inspectors.

Inspectors from the Patient Environment Action Team (PEAT), part of NHS Estates, scrutinised the standards of hygiene in the department during an unannounced inspection at the end of August.

It was the first PEAT inspection solely of Accident and Emergency, the hospital's busiest department, and in results just published the department was given an overall rating of four out of four.

But Danny Morgan, director of facilities at York Hospitals NHS Trust, said there were still areas that could be improved.

He said: "There were 27 categories that we were scored on. To score one is pretty dreadful and we didn't score any of those.

"We did score some twos and threes but we mostly scored fours, which is excellent, so overall we came out with a top mark.

"However, those areas where we didn't get four, such as where there was a cupboard open in a public area, we fixed right away. There was nothing that couldn't be fixed."

Mr Morgan said the inspection also took patients' views into account.

He said: "They were particularly interested in knowing whether patients and carers felt as good as they could, and that was included in the report.

"It was very positive, the inspectors used words like "caring staff" and "cheerful".

Sister Margaret Locker, A&E manager, said: "The inspectors ran a fine-tooth comb over the whole department. They looked at the state of the beds, the corridor and medical equipment.

"The department received the highest possible score. We are delighted with the result."

Updated: 10:41 Monday, November 03, 2003