12 August 2014
The Healthcare Environment Inspectorate has today issued a report following an unannounced visit to the Borders General Hospital (BGH) on June 10th and 11th 2014.
The purpose of the inspection was to assess the progress that NHS Borders has made with the six requirements and one recommendation made at the previous inspections in October and November 2013, and to assess the BGH against the NHS Quality Improvement Scotland healthcare associated infection (HAI) standards.
The report details that NHS Borders has fully met four of the requirements from last year’s inspection and these are in relation to the sharps management policy, linen management within the Special Care Baby Unit, appropriate storage of breast milk and the enhancement of bathing facilities in Ward 12.
NHS Borders has partially met the requirement around full completion of documentation relating to peripheral vascular catheter insertion.
Disappointingly on the day of inspection the Inspectors identified patient equipment within two wards that had not been cleaned to the standard expected. These findings led to the conclusion that the requirement to ensure that ‘all patient equipment is clean and ready for use’ was deemed not to have been met.
Director of Nursing and Midwifery at NHS Borders, Evelyn Rodger said: “Whilst we are pleased that the majority of requirements from last year have been met, the findings and photographs taken of inappropriately cleaned equipment on the day of inspection were completely unacceptable.
“I would like to give my assurance that these were isolated incidents and that immediate action was taken to ensure that these one off matters remain precisely that. Our Senior Charge Nurses, alongside all staff on the wards subscribe completely to the HAI standards and will use this report to drive further improvement.
“A robust eleven point Improvement Action Plan has been put in place to ensure that all patient equipment is clean and ready for use, and that there is an effective and consistent assurance system in place across the hospital.
“The plan includes an enhanced education and training programme on cleaning frequencies and the embedding of a sign-off and escalation process for acceptance of environmental cleaning standards.
“Feedback from the Inspection team on the day of inspection also included very positive comments from patients who were interviewed about the standard of care they were receiving at the BGH. I would like to take this opportunity to stress the importance of patient and public feedback so that we can continue to make sustained improvements to our service and the quality of patient care that we deliver, and would actively encourage people to get in touch with me to share their experiences of patient care across NHS Borders”.
Evelyn can be contacted at evelyn.rodger@borders.scot.nhs.uk
Further information about HEI, its inspection visits and methodology and audit tools used can be found at http://www.nhshealthquality.org/nhsqis/CCC_FirstPage.jsp