This article is from page 12 of the 2013-10-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
ENNIS Hospital has finally received a clean bill of health from the health watchdog HIQA.
Following years of reports outly ing dangers to patients health and indeed life, the County Clare hospital was hailed the cleanest and safest in the country on Thursday when the Health Information and Quality Authority.
The unannounced inspection was refined to the new hospital extension, with its two wards the Burren Ward and Fergus Ward, inspected.
“Overall, both areas assessed in Ennis Hospital were very clean with very few exceptions,” the report said of the state of the art single-room wards officially opened by Minister for Health James Reilly in April.
“The risk of the spread of Healthcare Associated Infections (HCAIs) is reduced when the physical environment and equipment can be readily cleaned and decontaminated. It is therefore important that the physical environment and equipment is planned, provided and maintained to maximise patient safety.”
The inspectors found this to be the case in the multi-million euro building it demanded in a previous damming report.
When it visited the hospital on September 4 for the most recent report it found that it was one of the cleanest in the country although there were a few minor issues relating to the standards set to control hospital infections. These included one finding of dirt on a door joint but mostly related to inadequate signage in certain parts of the wards.
Hand hygiene was criticized in the region’s maternity hospital in the last set of hospital reports, but Ennis Hospital was found to be following HIQA protocol.
“Hand hygiene is recognised internationally as the single most important preventative measure in the transmission of HCAIs in healthcare services. It is essential that a culture of hand hygiene practice is embedded in every service at all levels,” the inspector said.
“Ennis Hospital must now develop a quality improvement plan (QIP) that prioritises the improvements necessary to fully comply with the National Standards for the Prevention and Control of Healthcare Associated Infections.
“This QIP must be approved by the service provider’s identified individual who has overall executive accountability, responsibility and authority for the delivery of high quality, safe and reliable services. The QIP must be published by the hospital on its website within six weeks of the date of publication of this report.”
However, the good news at Ennis wasn’t replicated in four other hospitals including Nenagh, which is also in the University Limerick Hospital Group.
A litany of problems at the Tipperary hospital means a follow-up inspection is required within six months, while the Mater Hospital was told that “many improvements were required” within the same time frame.
There were also risks to patients from infections discovered at St Vincent’s and Tallaght hospitals in Dublin because of unclean environments in wards.