STAFF AT our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda have been warned they may face disciplinary action if they persistently fail to adhere to good hand-hygiene practices.
As a first step, management will be carrying out spot checks of hand-hygiene practices among staff and if staff do not use techniques they have learned during hand-hygiene training courses they will be named and shamed within the hospital.
These warnings from management issued to all staff in recent days following a poor showing by the hospital in a hygiene audit carried out by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) last month.
Hiqa found hygiene levels at the 340-bed hospital, which was dealing with an outbreak of Clostridium difficile at the time of the inspection, fell well short of required standards.
They found staff did not take all opportunities to practise hand hygiene and the hand-washing technique used did not always comply with best practice.
But the inspectors acknowledged staff had difficulties accessing sinks in the emergency department and that there were no alcohol hand gels in the outpatient department or a surgical ward.
In a circular to staff last week, which has been seen by The Irish Times, the general manager of the Louth/Meath hospital group Des O’Flynn said the Hiqa report had highlighted a number of issues in relation to the standards of hygiene and cleanliness in the hospital which were not acceptable for patients.
“Specifically, the standards of cleaning in the environment and staff hand-hygiene practices were found to be substandard. This is extremely disappointing in light of the significant work undertaken throughout the organisation since the introduction of the national hygiene standards in 2006 and more recently the time, effort and resources invested in staff hand-hygiene education and training,” he wrote.
“We will be continuing with our hand-hygiene observational audits and spot audits and we will be embarking on a programme of naming and shaming staff who, having received the appropriate training and eduction, do not pass the observational audit. Disciplinary action may also result if there is a persistent break of regulations relating to hand hygiene,” he added.
Staff at the hospital were yesterday briefed on the Hiqa report and the steps the hospital plans to take to address deficiencies identified in it.
Hand hygiene failings by staff were not the only problems identified by Hiqa.
Its inspectors also found a residue with a mould-like appearance in several areas of a maternity ward including windows, floor corners under the sinks, and on the ceilings and windows of the en suite shower rooms. There was also “heavy dust” on high and low surfaces.
Floors in the waiting area within the outpatient department also had “a layer of grime under the seating”.
Some 16 patients became infected with the potentially fatal Clostridium difficile superbug during the outbreak of the infection at the hospital late last year. The deaths of a number of patients who contracted the infection were notified to the local coroner who will establish if the bug was a factor in their deaths.