One in five hospitals ‘a risk to patients’
It also found that none of the 51 public hospitals failed to get top marks in the first independent National Hygiene Services Quality Review, which was published yesterday.
Fine Gael’s health spokesperson Dr James Reilly said the report revealed appalling standards and represented the latest failure for Health Minister Mary Harney.
“If you can’t get something as basic as hygiene right, what chance is there of tackling more complex problems in the health service?” he asked.
The audit, conducted by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), found that while none of the hospitals were found to have “very good” hygiene standards, seven were rated as “good”.
It gave 35 hospitals (68%) a “fair” rating, suggesting there was room for improvement. Nine, however, were rated “poor” after being found to be operatingbelow minimum hygiene standards.
In hospitals given a poor risk rating “an immediate and significant threat” to the health of patients and staff was found.
And the area where most hospitals scored poorly was on their management of their hygiene services, particularly the risk of cross-contamination.
A “poor” hospital needed to make significant improvement in both service delivery and in corporate management, said the HIQA, which pointed out that in every case at least one area of specific risk was highlighted by the assessors.
The assessments included unannounced visits by the authority’s assessors, as well as interviews with staff, managers, patients and visitors between March and September this year.
The authority’s director of healthcare Jon Billings said the overriding message to hospitals was that they could and should do better.
The report that sets a new benchmark for hospitals to aim for on behalf of their patients emphasises the need for stronger hygiene management at every level.
Ms Harney, whodescribed the report as disappointing, said hospital managers and boards must take hygiene and infection control seriously.
Stephen McMahon of the Irish Patients Association said the report should serve as a wake-up call to hospitals.
Labour spokesperson Jan O’Sullivan, said the review highlighted that in many cases competence at management level was clearly lacking.
The Health Service Executive pointed out that work was ongoing to provide stronger governance structures but that initiatives in this area might have been too late to have any impact on the HIQA’s report.
Mr Billings said the review, available on the HIQA’s website (www.hiqa.ie), was not designed to be compared with previous hygiene reviews.
And, he said, while work to drive improvements on the frontline had paid dividends, it was crucial that a programme of measures be established to reduce hospital acquired infections such as MRSA.
While most hospitals now had hygiene teams, thereport found that in many cases the roles and responsibilities were not as clear as they needed to be.
Mr Billings said the HIQA had already written to the hospitals about the safety issues raised in thereport and would be double checking that improvements had been made.
He said the HIQA was now developing infection prevention and control standards and expected they would be ready next year.
