Check reveals lapses in hospitals' hygiene

 
HC inspectors found the trust complied with the code in the majority of areas, including designating lead managers for both the cleaning and decontamination of equipment, providing suitable hand washing facilities and anti-bacterial hand rubs to help slash rates of superbugs, and putting a system in place to decontaminate patient equipment.

But they were found to be failing in some sub-duties – assessors check against a minimum of three duties of the code which each have a number of sub-duties.

The inspection team visited four areas across all three sites. And while inspectors found evidence of a thorough cleaning programme, they noted that a clear plan for all areas had not been finalised.

The report also said: "Cleanliness was generally adequate in bedside areas, but dust and dirt were seen in some utility and storage areas.

"Clinical waste was not stored safely.

"General maintenance issues, particularly in accident and emergency and at StamfordHospital, had been neglected, and storage issues did not promote good infection control practice."

The watchdog has now made recommendations to the trust to help it improve infection control systems.

These include:

There must be clear policies in place to address the admission, transfer and discharge of patients between all three sites and other external healthcare facilities.
Storage of cleaning equipment in the accident and emergency department must be reviewed and compliance monitored.

All clinical environments must be regularly assessed to identify any maintenance issues that may compromise cleaning standards, and risk issues must be reported to the facilities teams for action in a timely manner.

Standards of cleanliness must be clearly defined by taking into account current national cleaning standards.

These should be implemented and monitored on an ongoing basis. The Healthcare Commission will check in six months’ time whether or not these improvements have been made. Director of nursing at the trust Chris Wilkinson said the unannounced visit had helped the trust identify “areas where we need to improve” to stop patients getting healthcare-associated infections. She added: “The trust is, however, disappointed that it did not demonstrate full compliance with all of the sub-duties. “We have received recommendations to improve infection prevention and control processes, and we have already developed an action plan to implement measures to ensure full compliance.”