THE latest round of spot check inspections shows that Wythenshawe Hospital has maintained its acceptable standards of cleanliness.

Under the new traffic light system used to grade hospitals, inspection teams put Wythenshawe in the "yellow" acceptable category, along with 379 other hospitals.

The rating system has brought about a significant improvement in cleanliness. All 42 hospitals that were given a poor rating in April are now classed as acceptable or excellent, with no hospitals now rated as poor.

Health Secretary Alan Milburn said: "The cleaning campaign in England's hospitals is working. In April I announced national standards for hospital cleaning and that by the autumn no hospital would have poor standards of cleanliness.

"To raise standards still further, we now plan to increase the authority of matrons by making them mandatory members of hospital cleanliness inspection teams."