12:29pm Tuesday 23rd December 2008
By John Harrison
Hygiene standards inside west Hertfordshire's hospitals have failed in two out of three basic categories, inspectors found during a surprise visit.
Inspectors from the Government health watchdog, the Healthcare Commission, found West Herts Hospital Trust had breached two basic rules of its hygiene code.
The trust, which runs Watford General as well as St Albans and Hemel Hempstead hospitals, failed to meet “duty two”, to have in place an appropriate management systems for infection prevention.
It also failed to meet “duty four”, to maintain a clean and appropriate environment for healthcare.
Inspectors, however, found the trust was meeting the third inspected area, “duty 8”, to provide adequate isolation facilities.
During the visit they found dust and debris on the floors of wards they visited and highlighted issues regarding the decontamination of surgical instruments and equipment used for endoscopies.
The two-day inspection investigated whether the hospital is following the Department of Health's code of conduct for dealing with hospital super bugs.
The code lists 11 duties every hospital trust in England must meet to keep the risk of infection as low as possible.
Inspectors assessed a minimum of three duties of the hygiene code during the annual visit on October 1 and 2 this year.
The trust will be reinspected in six months time.
Professor Graham Ramsay, medical director for the trust and director of infection control, said: “We are grateful to have the information from this very thorough inspection visit.
“We already have actions in place to deal with the recommendations made.”
The report, which was published this week, did praise the trust for reducing the number of hospital infections caught by patients.
Between April and June the trust had the biggest percentage decrease in the number of any acute hospital in England.
When compared with the same period last year the number of hospital bugs in west Hertfordshire fell by 64 per cent.
Professor Ramsey, who is also in charge of infection control at the trust, added: “The trust is very pleased with its current performance on C.diff and MRSA.”
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