Hospital hygiene and infection reports

634

South Tipperary General Hospital is listed alongside a number of other hospitals across the country that the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has been critical of in a series of reports published today.

The report follows hygiene and infection prevention inspections for hospitals.

For South Tipperary General Hospital the report found that the practice of keeping patients in the corridor adjacent to the Emergency Department puts them a serious risk of picking up and spreading diseases.

There was also evidence of a lack of cleanliness of both the physical equipment and the environment, with visible dirt in patient and non-patient areas Another problem found was the inappropriate storage of unclean infected linen as well as evidence that equipment was not being cleaned properly.

It was also noted that a culture of hand hygiene practices is not operationally embedded at all level.

All records of these faults have been passed onto hospital management for rectification.