Hand Hygiene Critique

Overfilled used needle bins and 'poor' staff handwashing found at superbug ...

Report: The inspectors were again critical of the Dundee hospital. Pic: © STV

An under-fire Scottish hospital where five patients died in a superbug outbreak has again been criticised for its cleanliness and hygiene.

Inspectors at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee found that staff had a “poor” record of hand washing, which can contribute to viruses spreading, while they also found overfilled used needle or sharp bins in two wards.

The report follows two other damning inspections of the hospital where a fatal outbreak of Clostridium difficile (C.Diff) occurred in 2009.

Healthcare Environment Inspectorate (HEI) officials found that several concerns raised by them in November 2010 had not been addressed in the follow-up report in April this year.

Concerns over the routine checking of mattresses and workers wearing dirty clothing are among the 11 requirements NHS Tayside has been ordered to address by the agency.

The experts found that the hospital is “is working towards complying” with national directives to protect patients, however it needed “further improvement” in several areas including implementing an effective monitoring system of the risk of infection to patients, staff and visitors.

Used needle bins were found to be overfilled in two of the wards inspected by HEI, while one was also found “inappropriately” located on the floor of a ward.

The officials found that this, as well as the use of the incorrect bags to store patients’ dirty linen, were “examples of staff not complying with standard infection control precautions.”

Examples of poor hand washing among staff was also noted by the inspectors, including a doctor and a social worker not washing their hands in one ward, while in another eight medical staff were not using “the correct procedure” to wash theirs.

The hospital has come in for criticism of its infection control standards since the C.Diff outbreak in 2009.

Five patients, aged between 72 and 95-years-old, died between October 26 and November 6, 2009, as a result of a C.Diff outbreak in ward 31 at Ninewells.

Earlier this year the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland criticised the hospital over its treatment of an 80-year-old dementia patient in 2008, who received "unacceptably high" number of sedatives over an 11-day period before she died of pneumonia.

The Beginning of a Revolution (in hygiene): a Hand and Dish ...

Wednesday afternoon I packed up my most useful belongings, hitched what didn’t fit to the sides of my camping backpack and set out from Fort Greene in Brooklyn, NY to spend 3 weeks at Factor E Farm in Missouri. I’ve never been to that area of the world, and neither have many of my friends in Brooklyn. I ate my last gelato and started hiking to Newark airport for my direct flight to Kansas City. I haven’t been so nervous about a trip in a long time. I arrived at Factor E Farm late Wednesday night. My first night was 11 degrees F but I was quite warm in a cordwood hut with my boyfriend and Jeremy. I slept inside 2 winter sleeping bags on an army cot with a yoga mat. We all slept in till 8:30 am and had oatmeal that Jeremy prepared. We wandered around, got a tour of the place from Marcin and then sat down in the cordwood hut to talk strategy. Mathew and I had discussed the need for Factor E Farm to develop a sanitation and nutrition package before arriving. Upon arriving we were aghast to see that there was no station set up for hand washing or dishwashing that resembled our personal standards of sanitation. It took me a good hour to get over my shock. I had to remind myself that my mother and father didn’t have a well for running water until right before I was born. I’m not sure what they did before the well, my mom mentioned bathing in town. We had a great planning session with Marcin and Jeremy and got started setting up a makeshift hand and dish washing station. We got the whole thing up and running just in time to cook dinner at 8pm tonight. We now have a 7 gallon jug of water propped up on a shelf above a stainless steel sink which empties into a 5 gallon bucket. For a dish rack we’re using a milk crate on top of a shelf for now. The set up is close to the wood stove so that the water will be a pleasant temperature. The plan is to fetch water every morning so that the 7 gallons of water will be at room temperature for most of the day. MMm . . . the sweet comfort of a clean dish. To celebrate we had some delicious burgers with grilled onions, lettuce, green peppers and melted brie. For the record though, I strongly believe that FARMER SCIENTISTS DON’T DO DISHES. One day I hope to develop a dish washing machine here at the farm so that we can reclaim the 30 minutes we spend each day washing dishes. So spread the word: dishes are done.

Wednesday afternoon I packed up my most useful belongings, hitched what didn't fit to the sides of my camping backpack and set out from Fort Greene in Brooklyn, NY to spend 3 weeks at Factor E Farm in Missouri. I've never been to that area of the world, and neither have many of ...

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