Hospitals in East Yorkshire have been told their cleanliness is below the expected level and they must cut cases of the MRSA bug.

A report published by the Healthcare Commission says Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust fell below expected standards in six out of 44 areas.

The basic standards covered 24 sections, concentrating on issues such as safety, clinical effectiveness and patient focus.

The areas in which the trust fell below standard included year-on-year reductions of MRSA cases and meeting national specifications for cleanliness.

Other areas to raise concern were staff training and the treatment of patients and their relatives.

However, managers at the trust, which runs Hull Royal Infirmary, Castle Hill and Princess Royal hospitals, say standards have been improved since the assessments took place some months ago. Chief executive Stephen Greep said he was pleased with the findings.

Only a third of trusts across the country claimed to be meeting the Health Commission's 44 core standards of basic competence.

A quarter failed on four standards or less.

Any trust that faltered on 14 or more standards was deemed to have failed.

Mr Greep said: "The trust is pleased to have met 38 of 44 standards as set out by the Healthcare Commission. This was a self- assessment process and we rated ourselves as openly and honestly as possible.

"The standards relate to last year and some of the data is already out of date.

"The trust has invested an additional £1.5m in cleaning services for this year.

"At the time of self-assessment we were not compliant with all of the standards for cleanliness, but as a result of the appointment of a new cleaning contractor in April 2006, we are now fully compliant with all the requirements.

"Recent figures show a continued reduction in cases of MRSA and we are working extremely hard in this area."

This week a team of national experts were called in to help identify areas where performance could be improved.

Mr Greep said: "We are pleased with this report and would like to thank all of our staff for their hard work in meeting so many of these challenging targets.

"We will be working extremely hard to improve even further next year."

The commission plans to send inspectors to about 120 NHS trusts to check they have performed at the level declared.

The first annual health check ratings will be published in October 2006