HOSPITAL bosses in Dorchester were celebrating today after being given a green light for high standards of cleanliness and food.

Dorset County Hospital was given the top 'green' rating for its cleanliness by the Department of Health for the second year in a row and saw its rating for the standard of food it provides for patients, staff and visitors increase from an amber score last year to green this.

The hospital was awarded top marks following an inspection by the Patient Environment Action Team - PEAT - which used a traffic light system to indicate the standards achieved.

A green score denotes high standards, which almost always meet patient expectations, amber means acceptable standards which have room for improvement and red poor standards in need of urgent improvement.

Operational services manager at Dorset County Hospital Ann Lambkin said the hospital was delighted to have achieved the top category in both areas.

She said: "We take the patient environment very seriously at the hospital and try to maintain a high standard, particularly where cleaning and food standards are concerned.

"We have maintained the highest ranking possible for our patient environment for the last few years, which makes maintaining the environment a challenging issue.

"We are very lucky to have teams of dedicated staff who are committed to high standards for patients in our hospital.

"We aim to enhance the patient experience where we can."

The accolade comes just a few weeks after the trust was awarded three stars by health watchdog, the Commission for Health Improve-ment for its performance against a number of stringent criteria.

The hospital was one of 192 across the country to achieve a green rating for both food and cleanliness.

Health Minister Lord Norman Warner, who made the announcement, said: "Keeping hospitals clean and tidy is not a one-off exercise and the importance of the Clean Hospitals campaign has been maintained during 2002 to make sure things continue to improve.

"I am pleased to see that standards of cleanliness and food in the NHS are continuing to rise.

"There is still more to do before we provide the high standards which always meet patient needs and generally exceed their expectations but these latest results show that we have made progress towards consistently high quality hospital food services that are well-regarded by patients."

He said the Department of Health has invested £68 million to improve cleanliness and a further £34 million to improve standards of food.