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Ealing Hospital Cleans Up Its Act ( see front page story)

It is always good to see that that a hospital is getting a good cleaning!The Editor is looking for your comments if you have been there recently and if you read the article you can click on a link to send her an email.

Philippa Bond ● 6774d4 Comments

The more important question is what steps have been taken to stop it getting so filthy again in future. It's only 2 years since Ealing hospital "took on board" the findings of an undercover documentary (C4 Despatches I think) that showed the lax attitude of clinical staff to hygiene.The "deep clean" represents several hundred millions pounds of waste by the government in an attempt to hoodwink a gullible public that the problems with hospital acquired infection can be avoided simply by cleaning more intensively. This misses the point that many infections arise from poor personal hygiene by clinical staff - not washing hands properly (if at all) in between patients, transfer of infections by pens / contact surfaces etc etc. You only have to look at the fact that some Trust now allow female muslim staff to not wash up to the elbow (for religious reasons - they are not allowed to bare their forearms) to quickly see that the underlying reasons for Britain having the filthiest hospitals in the developed staff has less to do with cash and more to do with staff attitude. Until that changes, a one off "deep clean" will simply obfuscate attention on the real cause.

Ed Yelland ● 6773d

There is a You Tube video of a keyboard being put in the dishwasher to wash it!  I think this is may be an area of hospital life that doesn't get the cleaning it needs.

Philippa Bond ● 6773d

"There is a You Tube video of a keyboard being put in the dishwasher to wash it!  I think this is may be an area of hospital life that doesn't get the cleaning it needs."This is a useful innovation but won't work unless staff take hand hygiene seriously. It only takes one member of staff with dirty hands to use the keyboard after it's been washed to then pass on infections to all the other people who subsequently clean it.When the "how clean is your house" ladies were at Ealing hospital their secret filming showed that nearly half of all clinical staff weren't bothering with hand hygiene. What we need is less media hysteria about Hospital Managers needing to take the flack when patients acquire a hospital acquired infection, and a lot more focus on the clinicians who are ultimately responsible by observing (or more likely not observing) infection control procedures.

Ed Yelland ● 6773d

Yes this includes doctors who are often criticised for their lack of communication with their patients.  Unfortunately the commendable introduction with shaking of hands as they do a ward round is not a good idea.We shouldn't forget that although they are called hospital acquired infections many of us actually carry them into hospital with us.  Some hospitals test you before you go in for planned operations.

Philippa Bond ● 6773d