HEALTH Secretary Alan Milburn has congratulated staff at the Castle Street hospital site in Worcester for cleaning-up dirty wards.

Castle Street has been removed from a list of dirty hospitals by Government inspectors.

They have upgraded a dirty - or "red" - rating given to the hospital in April to acceptable, or "amber".

Newtown and Ronkswood have both maintained their excellent - or "green" - cleanliness ratings which were awarded in the previous round of inspections.

Mr Milburn praised the hard work of porters, caretakers and other staff.

He pointed out every hospital in the country had now achieved an "amber" or "green" rating.

Standards

"In April, I announced national standards for hospital cleaning and that by the autumn no hospital would have poor standards of cleanliness," he added.

"We've got there. Hospitals are delivering tangible improvements that benefit patients, visitors and staff."

Worcester MP Mike Foster also congratulated hospital staff. He said: "The cleaning campaign in England's hospitals is working, and in Worcester we have seen the evidence of this."

From 2002, all NHS Trusts will have to comply with new cleanliness standards.

"We're pleased to receive the green light rating on three of our hospital sites and we will be working towards achieving the same high standards at the Alexandra Hospital, Redditch," said Janet-Marie Clark, spokeswoman for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.