Green MSP Alison Johnstone has called for improved hygiene in Lothians’ hospitals following a critical report by public health inspectors. She said trust in our health service is vital and public patience is ‘starting to run out’.
The Healthcare Environment Inspectorate (HEI), which is part of Healthcare Improvement Scotland, published its report relating to an unannounced inspection visit to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE) in April on Monday.
HEI has been set up to help reduce healthcare associated infection risk to patients through a rigorous inspection framework. The HEI inspection team examined NHS Lothian’s self-assessment information and then inspected the hospital to validate this information, meet patients and staff, and visit wards and departments to assess how clean the hospital was and if it was meeting national standards.
Inspectors made four requirements and one recommendation following the inspection.
Head of Quality & Care Jacqui Macrae said: “Overall this was a good inspection and we found evidence that NHS Lothian is complying with the majority of standards to protect patients, staff and visitors from acquiring an infection. In particular, we saw staff following the majority of standard infection control precautions. We also found hand hygiene practice among staff groups was generally good in most wards we inspected. The exception was the emergency department where we found poor hand hygiene practice from staff. We expect NHS Lothian to address our requirements and recommendations at the earliest opportunity.”
Inspectors found birthing balls and a mattress in a labour ward were contaminated with blood and also found half the cot mattresses were contaminated. Eight of the 29 mattresses checked were contaminated, and in the labour ward three out of six cot mattresses checked were also found to be dirty. Three birthing balls, mattress covers, a mattress and patient bed frames and stirrups were all contaminated with blood and hand cleansing hygiene also came in for criticism in the report.
NHS Lothian has been urged to make sure that ‘all patient equipment is clean and ready for use at all times’.
Responding to the inspectors’ report, Alison Johnstone, Scottish Green MSP for Lothian, said: “Hospital hygiene is a big challenge but it’s incredibly important and public patience is starting to run out. It’s therefore disappointing to hear of contamination during an inspection of the emergency department and the labour ward at ERI. Trust in our health service is vital, and I want to hear from NHS Lothian how they plan to improve procedures for good hygiene in our hospitals.”
Melanie Johnson, nurse 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 good infection control management, combined with patient care and the general cleanliness of the hospital.
“A total of 67 of the 70 patients interviewed by the inspection team also said they were pleased with the levels of cleaning in their wards.
“We recognise there are things that can be improved and they have been addressed as a matter of urgency, including the cleaning of patient equipment and ensuring that hand hygiene is improved by all staff in the emergency department.”
The full HEI inspection report is available to view at:
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