NHS bosses have hailed a report giving a clean bill of health to elderly care wards at the QE2 Hospital, in Welwyn Garden City.

The East and North Herts NHS Trust has this week welcomed the publication of the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) report, which came after spot-checks at two wards on April 5.

The Commission found that both wards were compliant fully with the two national standards inspected, those being that “people should be treated with respect, involved in discussions about their care and treatment and able to influence how the service is run”, and that “food and drink should meet people’s individual dietary needs”.

As reported in last week’s WHT, the findings come after a similar inspection found A&E services were also in rude health.

The trust’s interim director of nursing, Philippa Davies, said: “While we are very pleased at the Care Quality Commission’s findings, which are a real tribute to the hard work of our staff – especially on the two wards that were inspected, we need to show that all of our clinical areas caring for older people at each of our hospitals are performing to the same high standard.

“This is why we have been instigating our own internal programme of unannounced visits to replicate the Commission’s process across all our wards and related facilities.”

She added: “Over the last couple of years, our staff – both clinical and non-clinical – have been working hard to improve the quality of care patients receive, along with their experience of spending time at one of our hospitals.”