One of the big issues that constituents raised in response to Bill Rammell’s survey of Princess Alexandra Hospital’s (PAH) services earlier this year was concern about hospital cleanliness. It was the second biggest issue raised by constituents after concerns about the car parking at PAH.

Bill Rammell sent a copy of the survey report to the Health Secretary Alan Johnson and the Health Minister Lord Ali Darzi before they visited Princess Alexandra Hospital to meet with staff in August. Since then he has discussed the issue with Alan Johnson on several occasions, urging the Department of Health to institute new measures to tackle cleanliness in our hospitals.

This week at the Labour Party Conference, Alan Johnson confirmed to Bill Rammell that in response to his calls and those of other concerned Labour MP’s the Government is to invest in a new programme to "deep clean" each hospital in the country. The programme, drawn up by Lord Darzi who is a hospital consultant as well as a Government Minister, will see all hospital wards, ceilings and ventilation shafts disinfected and scrubbed clean. The deep-clean initiative is designed to tackle ingrained cleanliness problems which build up in hard to reach places throughout hospitals and which can’t be easily dealt with by normal day to day cleaning.

Speaking after the announcement, Bill Rammell said, "Constituents made clear in their responses to my PAH survey that cleanliness was a very big issue for them. Local people rightly want a cleaner hospital and I took that message to the Health Secretary direct. I gave him a copy of my survey report and he then visited PAH in August where he met with staff and patients and saw some of the issues for himself."

"I’m pleased that our concerns here in Harlow have been taken seriously and the Government has listened to what we’ve been saying. I’m proud that together I and the 1,467 constituents who responded to my PAH survey have played a part in securing this new initiative for our hospital. It’s a stricter approach to cleanliness that constituents have been calling for.

Secretary of State for Health, Alan Johnson commented, "I am grateful to Bill Rammell and his constituents in Harlow who participated in his survey of services at Princess Alexandra Hospital. The feedback in the report and my recent visit to Harlow were both helpful to me when drawing up this new deep clean initiative. On it’s own the deep clean won’t solve the problem but it is a very important part of a wider package of measures to improve the cleanliness of all our hospitals."