This article is from page 20 of the 2007-11-20 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 20 JPG
THE Mid Western Regional Hospital Ennis was described as having “‘fair”’ hygiene standards in an independent audit of the country’s acute hospitals.
The general hospital was one of 35 nationally with a “fair” result. Just seven hospitals were rated good and no hospital was rated very good by the Health Information and Quality Authority.
Ennis General Hospital showed a broad to exceptional complhance with hygiene standards. However, some areas of the 88-bed hospital were a cause of concern for the auditors.
The unannounced assessment, which took place between July 20 and 31 this year, showed that toilets were “not cleaned and the under- surface of handwash sinks required oer rab ero
According to the auditors, all bathrooms and washrooms must be cleaned on a daily basis and this must be monitored and recorded. No monitoring was available at Ennis General Hospital, however.
Cobwebs were present behind ra- diators on most corridors and behind some doors. Although sluices were clean, they were cluttered and had no hand-wash facilities, according
to the audit. There was insufficient designated storage space, according to the report, but plans are in place to rectify this situation.
There were no mattress bags avail- able for contaminated mattresses ready for disposal and clinical waste is being taken manually from trans- port container by staff and placed in wheelie bins.
According to the report, the hospital scored relatively well in the service delivery section of the review with “generally acceptable performance’.
‘However, opportunities for im- provement were evident in corporate management,” it said.
In a statement, the HSE mid-west said the audit was “generally favo- rable in terms of services to patients but weaknesses had been identified at the corporate level generally, mean- ing the development of written docu- ments on processes and protocols.”
The Mid Western Regional Hospi- tal, Dooradoyle, the Regional Mater- nity Hospital and St John’s in Limer- ick were designated as “fair” along with Ennis, while Nenagh Hospital came into the “poor” category.
The Health Information and Qual- ity Authority warned that all hospi- tals, including those in the mid-west, could do better.