PATIENTS at Swindon's Great Western Hospital will soon be eating meals prepared at a factory that was at the centre of food safety storm.

Last year, an undercover reporter for Channel 4's Dispatches programme exposed 120 incidents of unhygienic behaviour at Tillery Valley Foods, in Gwent, Wales.

Following an internal probe, 12 members of staff were sacked for flagrant breaches of hygiene rules.

Now Carillion Health in overall control of catering at GWH has signed up the Welsh firm to beef-up its Better Hospital Food drive.

Patients will be served the new food next month.

Anglian Crown Foods, which has held the contract to supply GWH for the past two years, is being dropped.

It follows a recent survey by the hospital's Patient, Advice and Liaison Service which showed only 46 per cent of patients rated the food as good or very good.

Neil Sutherland, Carillon Health's facilities director, said: "A small number of staff (at Tillery Valley) were not following health hygiene guidelines and they were disciplined accordingly.

"We are confident the firm has tightened up procedures. We would not have awarded the contract otherwise.

"Carillion Health is also responsible for catering at other hospitals around the country and it has had dealings with Tillery Valley Foods in the past. We have always found them to be a consistent, high-quality supplier.

Chris Birdsall, the spokesman for Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust, said: "People will be aware of that Dispatches programme.

"But we would not have entered into the contract had we not been absolutely confident about the quality of the food and hygiene levels."

A statement by Tillery Valley Foods after the programme was aired read: "By way of background the undercover Dispatches reporter was discovered and dismissed by us for inappropriate behaviour over a year ago.

"The programme was screened five months after our discovery of him and during that time we tried every means available to understand what the allegations were and, in the absence of any details, reviewed our processes and procedures.

"As a result of the programme 12 staff were dismissed. At no time did we lose accreditation to supply the NHS and our Food Standards Agency manufacturing licence remained intact."