Health chiefs at the Royal Brompton Hospital in Chelsea have promised to improve monitoring of contractors after breaching a government hygiene code over infection control.

During The Healthcare Commission's unannounced assessment of the internationally-renowned heart and lung specialist institute in Sydney Street last year, it was found that the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust breached its duty to 'have in place appropriate management systems for infection prevention and control.'

It was found that the trust provided no evidence that short-term contractors received training, information and supervision to help prevent and control the risk of infections. These workers include extra staff who come into the hospital to conduct building work.

But despite the criticism, which meant the organisation breached a duty from the Department of Health's code, the Trust 'welcomes the findings' contained in the report.

A Royal Brompton spokeswoman added that the report concludes that the Trust provides and maintains a clean and appropriate environment for healthcare.

She said: "In terms of recommendations made in the report, we will now look to formalise the arrangements we have with contractors to ensure that their infection prevention and control training is officially recorded.

"The findings of the inspection are reflected by our consistently low rates of MRSA bloodstream infection and cases of Clostridium difficile."

The Healthcare Commission will check in six months time that the improvement has been made.