Scots hospitals much clean up their act, says report

By LYNDSAY BUCKLAND
Published on 06/02/2013 00:00

SOME hospitals in Scotland still need to take action to improve levels of cleanliness, despite improvements in standards across the country, a report says.

Susan Brimelow, chief inspector of the Healthcare Environment Inspectorate (HEI), said she was “cautiously optimistic” that hospitals were winning the battle against infections such as MRSA and C difficile. But the body’s latest report found that a number of hospitals inspected needed to take action to improve cleaning of wards and equipment, as well as following basic precautions to reduce the risk of infections spreading.

It comes as figures continue to show a drop in healthcare-associated infection across the NHS in Scotland. From October 2011 to September 2012, the HEI made 110 requirements and 81 recommendations, compared to 172 requirements and 180 recommendations in the first report in 2009-10.

But the report said there were still several areas where further improvements were needed.

Four hospitals where policies and procedures were found to be out of date were Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital, State Hospital, Carstairs, Golden Jubilee National Hospital in Clydebank and Balfour Hospital, Kirkwall.