Hospital failed to file hygiene records

A leading hospital failed to provide records to the HSE’s national audit on hand hygiene last year which would have shown it is falling far behind other facilities in ensuring patient safety.

The Health Information Quality Authority uncovered the situation after three separate inspections of Wexford General over a 15-month period found its hygiene standards are a “high risk to the health and welfare of patients”.

In October 2013, the facility had a hand hygiene adherence rate of 72%, far below the 90% target rate set out by the HSE.

However, despite an obligation to inform the national audit on hand hygiene of the failure to reach the required safety level, this did not happen.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio, Dr Colm Quigley, the hospital’s clinical director, said the information gap only occurred because a member of staff was on maternity leave.

The Hiqa report also highlighted the fact that only 52% of nurses and health care assistants were trained adequately in hand hygiene on March 4, despite the fact such training was deemed “mandatory” by management.

The issue was blamed on a “lack of resources”. On the Hiqa finding that management have not shown “executive commitment” to tackling the problems, Dr Quigley said the issue was being taken seriously.

www.hiqa.ie