PATIENTS at the Royal London are being forced to stay in some of the dirtiest hospital wards in the country, according to a report released today by the healthcare watchdog. Barts and the London Trust, which runs the Royal London in Whitechapel and the

PATIENTS at the Royal London are being forced to stay in some of the dirtiest hospital wards in the country, according to a report released today by the healthcare watchdog.

Barts and the London Trust, which runs the Royal London in Whitechapel and the London Chest Hospital, came out as "significantly worse than average" for the cleanliness in its wards, rooms, bathrooms and toilets after being scored by patients.

The Care Quality Commission surveyed inpatients at the country's 162 hospital trusts between September 2009 and January this year on a range of topics including A&E, cleanliness, mixed-sex wards and overall treatment.

But this week, bosses insisted all its hospitals had recently had "wide scale cleaning and repairs programmes" including new floors, improved lighting and the re-grouting all basins and showers.

A spokeswoman said: "The trust takes the issue of hospital cleanliness extremely seriously.

"All our wards have daily cleaning schedules and a weekly cleaning audit. Ward toilets and bathrooms are cleaned each morning and lunchtime then inspected again late afternoon."

Also in the report the Royal London's A&E department, which recently became a major trauma centre, received top scores from patients

The trust was rated as "significantly better than average" for the information it gives to emergency patients about their condition and treatment.

And the trust was in the top 20 per cent of the country for the time patients have to wait for a bed after arriving at A&E and for the time they have to wait to be admitted after being referred to hospital.

This will come as relief to hospital bosses who have been battling with waiting time targets for more than two years with some outpatients facing the worst delays in England.

The trust was also sitting comfortably among 60 per cent of the country's trusts for treating its patients with respect and dignity and it received a score of 77 out of 100 for the overall care its staff provided.