NHS - no access to hot water/soap etc.

[Guest guest]

Inspectors warn over NHS hygiene

 

Good hand hygiene is essential for reducing infections

Nearly four out of ten NHS staff do not have access to basic hygiene

measures needed to combat superbug MRSA, the health inspectorate has warned.

A Healthcare Commission survey said just 61% of NHS staff in England and

Wales could always access hot water, paper towels and alcohol rubs.

 

And one-in-four NHS staff said their trust does not do enough to promote

hygiene to staff and patients.

 

The Department of Health said staff had a responsibility to promote hygiene.

 

Tackling the superbug is one of the government's priorities after a rise in

bloodstream infections in recent years

 

A high standard of hand hygiene is a pre-requisite of safe healthcare

and this is undermined if the basic facilities for cleaning hands are not

always available

 

Anna Walker

Healthcare Commission

 

A total of 7,212, cases were detected in 2004-5 and experts suggest up to

300,000 infections which lead to 5,000 deaths are picked up in healthcare

settings yearly.

 

However, just over half the staff in 570 trusts in England and Wales said

they had received training, learning or development about infection control

over the past 12 months - implying that half had not.

 

A further 28% of the 209,000 members of staff surveyed said there were high

levels of hand cleaning equipment in their hospital or trust, but

one-in-five said they never had access to such facilities.

 

Healthcare Commission chief executive Anna Walker said it was worrying that

" a small but significant minority " of staff found that adequate hand

cleaning facilities were not always available when required.

 

She added: " A high standard of hand hygiene is a pre-requisite of safe

healthcare and this is undermined if the basic facilities for cleaning hands

are not always available. "

 

Basic hot water

 

A spokesman for the Department of Health said a high proportion of staff

felt that hand hygiene facilities were available either always or most of

the time, with all acute trusts now reinforcing and promoting their

importance.

 

He added: " With alcohol hand rubs available on all wards or carried by

staff, and constant reminders on importance of hand hygiene, we hope that

NHS staff and patients themselves will now help take responsibility to

promote and practice it. "

 

Dr Gill Morgan, chief executive of the NHS Confederation which represents

90% of NHS organisations, said there was little more to do in terms of

promoting hygiene to staff, patients and visitors.

 

" There are a number of important steps that the NHS is taking to tackle

healthcare acquired infections ¿ including strict rules and extra vigilance

for hand hygiene of staff, patients and visitors; dedicated infection

control teams; better paid and better trained cleaning staff.

 

" There is still more to do, but evidence suggests that the changes are

having an impact. "

 

Violence down

 

Karen Jennings, head of health at public service union Unison which

represents cleaning staff, said the statistics on hygiene and infection

control were " alarming " .

 

" It seems incredible that, when the risk of cross infection in hospitals is

so high, two out of five staff still do not have access to basic hot water,

soap and paper towels or alcohol rubs. "

 

She added: " At a time when MRSA and other superbugs are claiming 5,000 lives

every year, it is shameful that nearly a half of all staff have still not

had any training in infection control. "

 

 

 

Royal College of Nursing general secretary Dr Beverly Malone echoed her

comments saying it was of " real concern " that trusts were not taking

infection control seriously.

 

'Effective action'

 

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Steve Webb MP said despite eight years of

task forces, strategies and initiatives the government had made little

progress on fighting serious infections.

 

" A strict culture of cleanliness is vital for infection control, yet hygiene

issues still persist.

 

" It is important that patients and visitors in particular are alerted to the

importance of washing their hands so that they do not transmit infection

within the hospital, " he added.

 

However, the survey did find that the number of NHS staff who face violence

and abuse from patients and their relatives had fallen.

 

But the commission found that only half of those surveyed thought their

health trust employers would take " effective action " if staff were attacked.

 

Nonetheless it praised NHS efforts as the " first significant sign " of a

downward trend in the numbers of staff being attacked, bullied or harassed.

 

Some 28% still reported that they had experienced either violence or abuse

in the previous 12 months - down 3% in 2004.