BOTH Worcestershire Royal Hospital and Redditch’s Alexandra Hospital have passed inspections with flying colours.

Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) visited both hospitals last month to assess how staff were working to prevent the spread of infections such as norovirus as well as standards of cleanliness.

They met with doctors, nurses, housekeepers and care assistants and reviewed policies, procedures and risk assessments.

They concluded the trust’s policies were robust and appropriate measures had been put in place to protect patients, staff and visitors from the risk of infection.

The trust’s chief executive Penny Venables said she was “delighted” by the two reports.

“We really appreciate the help we have received from the public this winter in preventing the spread of infections, particularly norovirus,” she said. “Our new ‘pull together’ guidelines, including increased hand hygiene and stricter visiting times have really helped us protect people from these winter bugs.

“I would like to thank all the staff across the trust for their hard work and determination to ensure the highest levels of care for all our patients.”

The CQC is the regulator of health and social care in England and carries out unannounced inspections of all care homes, acute hospitals and domiciliary care services in England at least once a year.

The full reports for both hospitals can be found at www.cqc.org.uk.