Cork hospital one of dirtiest in hygiene audit

MOST of the poorest performers in the latest hospital hygiene audit are in Cork, with the city’s South Infirmary-Victoria University Hospital emerging as one of two dirtiest hospitals in the country.

In the second National Hygiene Audit published yesterday by the Health Service Executive, the South Infirmary-Victoria University Hospital shares bottom place with Monaghan General Hospital.

Both hospitals achieved the lowest audit score of 75 out of 100 and were out of sync with most of the country’s 53 hospitals that managed to improve their rating this time round.

Other Cork hospitals that failed to make any real improvement in their rating are the Mercy Hospital, St Finbarr’s Hospital and Cork University Hospital. They were again all rated as ‘fair’.

A spokeswoman for the HSE South said they were working towards further improvements at CUH and that they had won a hygiene award for the past two years.

The HSE said it would be working closely with the Cork and Monaghan hospitals over the next two months in a bid to improve their standards and both will be subject to a repeat audit in the autumn.

Hospitals have already been warned that those who fail to clean up their act in a third extended national audit to be carried out later this year will face paying for their inaction through caps on their annual budgets.

Also, the way senior hospital managers receive their pay, including bonuses, will be based on their performance.

Tánaiste and Health Minister Mary Harney insisted yesterday performance related funding was the most effective way of making sure that hospitals and healthcare facilities were run to the highest possible standard.

The latest audit shows the South Infirmary-Victoria University Hospital rating remains ‘poor’, although its overall score increased from 72% to 75%.

A spokesperson for the hospital said all necessary action was now being taken to ensure more positive results in the future.

While Mallow General Hospital was knocked off the top spot for having the cleanest hospital by St Luke’s Hospital in Dublin, the hospital continued to increase its score from 88 to 91.

Ms Harney also warned that hospitals that did not comply with strict hygiene standards in the future would be shut down.

Ms Harney pointed out that Nenagh Regional Hospital and Kerry General Hospital increased their overall score, moving from ‘improved’ to ‘good’.

Ms Harney recalled that both hospitals had warned that if there was not considerable investment, neither could improve their hygiene standards.

But, said Ms Harney, good management played a crucial role in achieving high standards. “A dirty hospital will not inspire confidence in patients or their families,” she said.