Delivering cleaner hospitals and cutting hospital acquired infections such as MRSA and C.Difficile are top priorities for this Labour Government.

Alan Johnson, Labour’s Health Secretary, said: "I want to congratulate all the hospitals which have completed their deep cleans. The public must be able to trust the NHS to keep them safe from infections. That's why we ordered all hospitals to be deep cleaned, and brought in new Matrons with new powers to set and enforce high standards of cleanliness.

“And it's why new teams of specialist inspectors will soon be monitoring every Trust to make sure they are meeting the standards in the hygiene code. Infection rates are falling fast, and we've taken the measures to ensure they'll keep falling."

Because MRSA can spread after being brought into hospitals from outside by patients, all non-emergency admissions will be screened for MRSA by next year, and all emergency patients will be screened within three years.

Apart from the deep clean, the action taken to clean hospitals and cut infections rates includes the introduction of new “bare below the elbow” uniform guidance and rigorous handwashing for NHS staff, and the establishment of the world’s most comprehensive and detailed MRSA surveillance system.

The NHS is on course to meet its tough target of halving the number of MRSA cases from 2004 levels this year, and cutting C.Difficile by 30 per cent by 2011.