Hospital inspection found outstanding infection control issues 15/8/11
The Stornoway hospital has been told to make priority improvements after an unannounced snap inspection picked up a number of outstanding issues.
Western Isles Hospital already had a year to correct matters but inspectors found some issues were still to be properly dealt with when they returned last month.
Four people from the Healthcare Environment Inspectorate (HEI) checked up on how well Western Isles Hospital was doing in reducing the risk of patients getting while staying in the hospital.
Inspectors met patients and staff, and visited wards and departments to assess how clean the hospital was and if it was meeting national standards. Overall, infection prevention standards and ward cleaning was good.
But they found that cleaning schedules were not consistent, the planned new fault
reporting system did not have a definite timescale for completion, the carpet in
the outpatient department needs to be replaced with easier-
Inspectors issued five requirements to bring things up to standard. There are also two recommendations for improvement.
Susan Brimelow, HEI Chief Inspector, said: “Overall, NHS Western Isles is complying with the majority of standards to protect patients, staff and visitors from the risk of acquiring an infection.
“The overall standard of cleaning continues to be good and a programme of regular staff training in infection prevention and control is maintained.
“However, we have also identified areas for improvement including a need for more consistent use of cleaning schedules, and drug fridge temperature recording must be improved.”
NHS Western Isles Chief Executive Gordon Jamieson said: “NHS Western Isles welcomes any and all external scrutiny that assists us to continually raise the standard of care, services and the environment in which patients receive care.
“This report recognises the positive action that NHS Western Isles continues to take to reduce the risk of infection, which is down to the hard work and dedication of our staff. The areas for improvement highlighted will be the focus of very clear action to raise our standards even further.”