Madam, - There is much discussion about the importance of hand-washing in controlling the spread of infections in hospitals. My experience as a patient suggests that the standard of hygiene in the maintenance of toilets and bathrooms attached to wards is not always what it should be.
In the hospital in which I was a patient in the same ward three times this year I was amazed to see that the toilets attached to the ward had no lids. Consequently, after flushing them, despite my best efforts I never managed to quit the cubicle in time to avoid the ensuing mini-geyser effect.
On my first visit to the bathroom there was a soiled mattress in the bath. I had a shower and did not return there. Subsequently I wrote to the management about the matter.
During my second sojourn I visited the bathroom again. There was no mattress in the bath - but two mattresses, as well as wet towels, on the floor and a pair of men's pyjamas pants soaking in the washbasin. I could not bring myself to enter the bathroom during my third, and fortunately only overnight, stay in September.
Is the standard of hygiene I observed compatible with best practice in controlling the spread of infections? - Yours, etc.,
BRENDA WHEELER,
Crannagh Road,
Dublin 14.