Great Western Hospital has been rated excellent by the National Patient Safety Agency for the cleanliness of the hospital environment, quality of food and levels of privacy and dignity.

The clean bill of health was published by the Patient Environment Action Team (Peat) which assesses all hospitals and inpatient units with more than 10 beds.

Each healthcare facility then receives a rating of excellent, good, acceptable, poor or unacceptable. Only 40 sites in England were awarded a score of excellent across all three categories.

The news comes just a year after an Adver investigation revealed the hospital was battling pest problems which included rats in its restaurant and servery.

A Freedom of Information Act request submitted by the Adver showed Bristol-based company Mitie was called to the hospital 82 times between 2005 and 2009.

But Peat’s inspection – which included food, cleanliness, infection control – and patient environment such as bathroom areas, décor, lighting, floors and access awarded GWH the highest rating.

Lisa Hocking, infection prevention and control nurse and part of the Peat team at GWH, said: “Patients visiting Great Western Hospital can be reassured of our high levels of cleanliness and infection control and commitment to privacy and dignity.

“We’re delighted that we’ve been rated as excellent across all areas as this reflects the hard work of all our staff who take pride in making the patient experience as positive and comfortable as possible”.

Of its achievements, GWH’s include accommodating more than 30 per cent of its patients in single rooms, while all general wards offer single sex bays for increased privacy and dignity. Staff have worked towards an 80 per cent reduction in the MRSA clostridium difficile (C-diff) rate during the past five years and introduced nutritional screening to assess patient’s nutritional needs on admittance.

Ms Hocking said: “All departments at the trust, from clinical staff, facilities staff to our partners, work hard to maintain high quality standards.

“We have introduced protected meal times for patients to make sure they are eating regularly to help with their recovery, and make sure that the cleaning of the ward takes place at times that cause as little disruption as possible to meal times and patient care.

“We also perform constant monitoring which includes using Peat inspectors as mystery shoppers to provide feedback on areas that could be improved as well as areas which are performing well.”