IPSWICH Hospital has been given a clean bill of health, although there is room for improvement with their food, an inspection has revealed.A year after the family of pensioner Ernie Smith claimed he died because of dirty wards, the green light has been given for their standards of cleanliness.

IPSWICH Hospital has been given a clean bill of health, although there is room for improvement with their food, an inspection has revealed.

A year after the family of pensioner Ernie Smith claimed he died because of dirty wards, the green light has been given for their standards of cleanliness.

The assessment was part of a nationwide one by the Patient Environment Action Team. (PEAT)

Ipswich was one of the 80 per cent of hospitals across the country, which got top marks for their standards.

The teams looked at a wide range of places including wards, receptions, waiting areas, Accident and Emergency, outpatients, corridors, furnishings, linen and the outside of the hospital.

Traffic light colours were awarded to each hospital with green denoting good, amber being acceptable and red showing a poor performance.

Elsewhere in the county West Suffolk proved to be acceptable in both cleanliness and food, as did St Clement's Hospital.

Although the cleanliness is up to par at Ipswich, the food assessment proved only to be acceptable.

Jan Rowsell, spokeswoman for the Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust said: "We are delighted with the results of the inspection.

"We know there is no room for complacency and we can always get better, especially when it comes to hospital food.

"It is hugely important of people's experiences of what they feel when they come into hospital."

Ms Rowsell said that they were working closely with partners OCS who took over the cleaning and food contract from Sodexho earlier this year, to make sure they provide the very best.

She said: "There has been lots of changes and lots of improvements in the last couple of months. It is a big priority."

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