Patients ‘at risk’ from poor hygiene at midlands hospital

Patients, staff and visitors at a midlands hospital were at high risk of infection due to poor hygiene practices on the children’s ward, according to the State’s health watchdog.

The Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) issued a formal warning to the Midland Regional Hospital, Mullingar in February after an unannounced inspection found evidence of “widespread poor adherence with best practice”.

Inspectors noted that 11 children were isolated in separate rooms for infection control reasons, but the doors were closed in only five of the rooms. Precautionary signage was displayed on only one door.

Inspectors were also critical of staff demonstrating “poor and ineffective practice in relation to the use of personal protective equipment, and hand hygiene practices were also very poor”. Collectively, this gave rise to a potential risk of the spread of infection, they warned.

However, significant improvements were noted when a follow-up inspection was carried out in March. Hand hygiene also improved significantly.

Overcrowding

A separate report on Mayo General Hospital found evidence of overcrowding on the oncology/haematology ward, with twice the number of patients being treated as there were designated beds.

Hiqa said hand hygiene at the hospital was poor and disimproving compared to previous audits: “Poor practice in particular in relation to hand hygiene when donning and doffing personal protective equipment, and a lack of differentiation between the patient zone and healthcare area as it relates to hand hygiene, were identified as recurrent problems.”

The report says there is considerable scope for the hospital to improve its performance in relation to environmental and hand hygiene and called on management to ensure that cleaning services, waste management and infection control practices are effectively managed.

A report on Cavan General Hospital found the areas inspected were clean and well maintained. However, there has been no improvement in the rates of infection with the Clostridium difficile superbug and there are opportunities for improvement in relation to medication management and unsafe injection practices.

In all, Hiqa has published 11 hygiene reports on individual hospitals on Friday.