Following an unannounced visit to the hospital, the CQC commended the hospital for achieving a high level of hygiene and cleanliness throughout the site in partnership with G4S, its facilities management contractors. The CQC makes annual inspections of all NHS Trusts to ensure they meet stringent regulations on healthcare associated infections. The inspection team examined policies and procedures to prevent and control infections and spoke to a range of hospital staff including nurses, ward managers, consultants, cleaners, volunteers and contractors. The hospital’s facilities management contract is run by G4S Integrated Services, which has over 90 employees providing a wide range of services including catering for patients, staff and visitors, portering, security, cleaning, helpdesk, and maintenance. The inspection highlighted the following: 100% pass on areas inspected with no breaches or areas for concern; Sound knowledge among staff of all the necessary procedures and training requirements; A strong sense that the hospital works closely with its G4S facilities partner on infection control: in particular that cleaning staff were recognised as members of the ward teams, knew what their job involved and were doing it to a high standard with evidence of audit and well understood escalation processes if problems arose; A positive and friendly reception from ward staff who were interviewed as part of the inspection; and Good morale amongst patients who commented positively on the hand hygiene practices of staff. Tony Berendt, Medical Director and Director of Infection Prevention and Control at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre said: “The feedback received from the inspection was hugely pleasing to hear and is a tribute to all our staff and the G4S facilities team who work hard to maintain our excellent standards.” The Trust, which has very low rates of infection with only one case of MRSA bacteraemia in the past year, has improved on last year’s inspection when it was asked to develop and improve the liaison between members of the hospital’s infection control team and facilities staff. Chris Elliott, Managing Director, G4S Integrated Services said: “To receive commendation from such a tough inspection process is wonderful news and highlights the excellent standards achieved by our team at Nuffield demonstrating the effective partnership between both NHS Trust staff and G4S staff. I would like to thank everyone involved in helping us achieve this level of performance for their continued commitment to supporting the highest possible standards.”