No matter how much we know about germs, there’s always a new hospital under the spotlight for hygiene.
This week’s bacterial offender is Edinburgh’s Sick Kids Hospital, which was slammed by the Healthcare Environment Inspectorate (HEI) after they claimed that “several areas of improvement” were necessary in one of the hospital’s wards.
The HEI’s report claimed, “Staff did not always take the opportunity to perform hand hygiene and, on several occasions, alcohol-based hand rub was applied but the technique to decontaminate hands was poor. We also saw some examples of staff not removing their aprons and gloves or not decontaminating their hands on removal.”
Cleanliness failure
Although these might seem like minor discrepancies, the failure to contain and eliminate germs can have a fatal impact on a patient’s health. And as an increasing number of viruses grow resistant to bacteria, the need for clinically clean wards is intensifying.
Dr David Farquharson, medical director at NHS Lothian, said, “We welcome the report from the Healthcare Environment Inspectorate and we are pleased that some areas were singled out for individual praise, including the cleanliness of the hospital and that overall staff are working hard to comply with standard infection control precautions.
“We recognise there are things that can be improved and they will be addressed as a matter of urgency.
“These include reinforcing general infection control measures with staff, better documentation surrounding vascular catheters and improve the checking and cleaning of all equipment including mattresses.”
Cleanliness is next to godliness where hospitals are concerned – and we can help keep them spick and span with our high-quality washrooms. To find out more, explore our site further.
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