Hygiene action plan at St Luke's Hospital

A MORE stringent hygiene plan has been put into operation at St Luke's General Hospital following the results of an inspection carried out last month.

The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) report found that standards of hygiene in a number of areas in the hospital had lapsed since last year's inspection.

General Manager of St Luke's, Ms Anne Slattery, said that the results were disappointing but that they would be addressed as a matter of urgency.

She said that the Health Service Executive (HSE) fully accepted the findings in the report and were taking the issues raised extremely seriously.

She explained that they had immediately put in place a plan at the hospital to address each of the issues highlighted. The new plan provides for an increased focus as regards cleaning in clinical areas of the hospital in order to achieve higher standards of hygiene in the patients' environment.

There will also be an additional twice weekly internal Hygiene Audit of clinical areas. Outcomes will be reported to designated senior management, with proposed action plans to address any deficiencies.

“Balancing the demands of service delivery in a very busy environment while ensuring the highest hygiene standards is a priority for the HSE and we are disappointed that the same standards of previous HIQA reviews have not been reached at St Luke’s General Hospital on this occasion. We will be working hard towards ensuring a much better result in the hospital in the next HIQA audit,” Ms Slattery said.

Under HIQA’s inspection regime hospitals can receive A, B, C, D or E grades across seven categories. Cleanliness of the kitchen area and linen supplies earned the hospital an 'A' grade.

Cleanliness of equipment, medical devices, cleaning devices and cleaning equipment, the handling, storage, use and disposal of hazardous material and hand hygiene were all awarded a 'B' grade and finally the physical environment and facilities earned them a 'C' grade.