The national 'deep clean' programme was announced by Gordon Brown last year in a bid to banish deadly superbugs in hospitals across the country.

In September the Prime Minister said every hospital would undergo a thorough deep clean by the end of March.

Tracey McErlain-Burns, chief nurse and director of patient experience at the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "We have a detailed plan in place to enable us to meet the Department of Health deep cleaning guidelines.

"Following an initial pilot, a range of specialist staff from different areas across the organisation have been working together to implement the plan across the trust.

"This work is in addition to our continued commitment to ensuring a high level of hospital cleanliness.

She added: "After observing the initial work carried out by the dedicated cleaning team, I must commend them on their efforts to minimise disruption to patients and the thoroughness of their cleaning which I found to be faultless."

The Prime Minister announced a series of measures aimed at improving hospital cleanliness, including increasing the number of matrons and giving more powers to nurses.

Details are being finalised locally but the Department of Health issued a list showing some of the ways which it expects the deep cleaning to be carried out.

These include steam cleaning and ultrasonic cleaning, wall-washing, dismantling and cleaning beds and equipment and cleaning behind radiators, fitments and light fittings.

The deep clean at Pinderfields includes an intensive clean of all patient bed areas as well as ancillary areas. This is being carried out by the trust's team using recommended deep clean techniques, such as steam cleaning.