HEALTH bosses have been given a further £60,000 to continue with an improvement programme after impressing independent examiners.

Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley NHS Trust said it would use the government funding to replace carpets on four wards at Queen's Park Hospital, Blackburn.

Around £20,000 was to be allocated to external decorating, mainly at Blackburn Royal Infirmary.

A recent Trust report revealed both hospitals had achieved "Green Status" by the Department of Health with regards to its Clean Hospitals Programme.

Independent teams visited every hospital in the country, assessing the cleanliness of public access areas such as toilets and entrances, and graded them green for acceptable, amber satisfactory or red unacceptable.

Mike Hall, Trust facilities manager, said the onus was now on the staff to maintain the high standard.

He said: "This latest money takes our funding to around £120,000. We have set up our own internal inspection teams who carry out monthly checks in line with the national standards.

"The most important thing is to keep up the levels. The staff work hard to do so."

The latest monthly report from the team, which Mr Hall said was stringent in its approach, criticised levels of cleanliness of the Accident and Emergency Ward as showing a 'slight reduction'.

But Mr Hall said plans to counter the slight fall had been swiftly implemented.

He said: "It is a difficult area to maintain. It is open 24 hours and finding a quiet time to clean is not easy. But we have changed shift patterns and are already showing better results."