Snap inspection finds stains, dirt and dust at flagship hospital

DIRTY toilets, dusty floors and badly stained walls have been found by inspectors on an unannounced visit to a major Scottish hospital.

Dust was found in floor areas of one ward of Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, toilets were dirty in three wards and there was “poor cleanliness” of some patient equipment such as intravenous stands and emergency trolleys.

Overflowing dirty linen skips were found in one ward and on another some staff were seen not washing their hands.

The unannounced inspection on 18 August found five out of the nine wards and departments inspected were clean, and ward staff reported “good communication” with the infection control team.

But the Healthcare Environment Inspectorate (HEI) report published yesterday said: “Some walls were badly stained.

“Four wards in particular were found to have issues with high level dust and dirt, eg curtain rails, overhead lights and cable trunking.”

The report said bedside televisions and phones in some wards were dusty, while a number of toilets were found to be dirty.

Further improvement was needed in areas including cleaning schedules, agreed between the hospital and its service provider, which should “meet the specific needs of different patient and ward environments”.

The report listed nine requirements that NHS Lothian is fully expected to address, plus two recommendations for improvement. The cleaning of the hospital is currently the responsibility of Consort Healthcare, the private company that built the hospital.

In a statement, the company said: “Consort Healthcare has a programme of continual improvement involving all areas of their responsibility at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh,

“We recognise there were some areas where the inspectorate felt that we need to improve and we will continue to work with all partners on site to deliver the best environment for the patients, staff and visitors.”

Sandra Mair, deputy chief operating officer for university hospitals division at NHS Lothian, said: “We are working on a detailed action plan to address these issues.

“In particular, we are working closely with Consort, our private partners, to improve communication between ward, cleaning and infection control staff, for example by having the same cleaning staff in the same areas to encourage them to become part of the ward team.

Scottish Labour’s health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie described it as a “damning report” that demanded “urgent action”.

A Scottish Government spokesman added: “NHS Lothian must implement their improvement plan as a matter of urgency.

“Further inspections will be carried out to ensure patients are protected from the risk of healthcare-associated infections.

“Healthcare-associated infections in Scotland are now at an all-time low and over the next three years health board budgets will rise in real terms.”