Which will be of great comfort to the 1,000 or so people who are undergoing treatment and the other 1,000 who eat in its canteen.

The council's environmental health team gave ISS Mediclean Ltd five stars for food hygiene and safety standards – the highest rating possible.

We should pat the hospital team on the back for a job well done.
After all, it is good to know we are not likely to be made worse by something we eat. That would be unpalatable.

However, it is debatable in the case of a hospital what real purpose these marks serve.

There are unwritten rules that surely apply here. If you are responsible for serving food to people who are in a vulnerable state of health, it has to be to the highest possible standards. Not three or four stars.

Only a mark of five is acceptable.

This we should expect as a matter of course without the whole business of inspectors producing marks.

Then again, we are constantly being told hospitals are getting cleaner...