The Mail today reports that at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire "Two premature babies died because staff on an NHS hospital ward did not wash their hands properly" .
The need for hygiene has been known since the days of Florence Nightingale, although the reason was not fully understood. However, these days, both the need, and the reasons, for hygiene are fully understood and there is absolutely no excuse for any staff who do not take appropriate action. It was blamed by doctors on a ‘breakdown in hand hygiene’ which, translated into normal English simply means that staff were too idle to wash their hands between patients.
But this failure is, I suspect, common to many hospitals. When my wife was in a well known hospital and recovering following heart surgery, there was a large notice on the ward door stating that "All persons MUST use the hand cleanser before entering the ward". However, although it seemed that all visitors complied with the instruction, for some reason many hospital staff didn't seem to think that it applied to them; whilst my daughter and I were standing there using the cleanser, it was quite common to see doctors, nurses and even admin staff enter without bothering.
Hand washing should be routine for staff in a hospital just as part of my routine as an electrical engineer was to check that electrical circuits had been isolated before allowing work to take place. Failure in either case can lead to deaths for which there is no possible excuse. However there seems to be a big difference between hospitals and the outside world in terms of the action that follows such a failure. If I had neglected my duties and a member of staff had been killed, there would have been a good chance that I would have been prosecuted for manslaughter, and my employer would probably also have been prosecuted under Health and Safety legislation for failure to provide safe working conditions.
Yet when it comes to hospitals, in spite of this hospital admitting at an inquest that negligence contributed to the deaths of two babies, nobody ever seems to be to blame. The staff tried to blame the parents, but as one parent said, it was extremely unlikely that a parent unknowingly carrying any infection would transfer it to any other than their own child simply because they wouldn't go near, and certainly wouldn't touch, other sick children.
I am pleased to see that one of the families have instructed solicitors to take legal action against the trust, but in no way can this be a substitute for the criminal prosecutions which should take palace.
Showing posts with label hygiene. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hygiene. Show all posts
Saturday, 20 April 2013
Wednesday, 6 February 2013
Our Hospitals
I don't propose to comment on the events at Stafford, but I suspect that much of what happened there is common, to a greater or lesser degree, at many hospitals. Indeed, it has been announced that five other hospitals are now under investigation.
I would just draw attention to the experience of a close friend, like myself in her late seventies, who went into her local hospital for a relatively minor operation. The difference here was that she had been a Ward Sister in the very same hospital for a good many years before her retirement, and she was totally disgusted at the way standards had slipped, and was adamant that none of the nurses would have remained on the ward if she had still been in charge!
When she came out, she wrote a carefully considered letter to the hospital chief executive, pointing out the various shortcomings, mainly in respect of hygiene and general cleanliness. Nurses failing to wash their hands and with dirty uniforms, poor cleaning of the ward, dirty toilets and washing facilities and a general lack of interest by the nurses in their patients, including their watching television and chattering at the nursing station during the night. She pointed out that in her time, the last thing that she would do before the lights were dimmed was to go round all the patients on the ward and do her best to ensure that they were comfortable for the night, something that was seemingly no longer general practice.. She detailed how things should, in her opinion, be done.
The letter was replied to by some underling, just a few lines acknowledging its receipt and saying, in effect "we don't do things that way these days".
There is absolutely no need for lack of cleanliness and basic hygiene in our hospitals, particularly with the increase in antibiotic resistant "super-bugs", and with statistics appearing to indicate that hospital acquired infections are on the increase in the UK. The need for hygiene has been known since the days of Florence Nightingale, but presumably now is considered to be "something we don't do these days"!
It is interesting to note that such infections in the US are now generally on the decrease and for a very good reason, they can cost the hospitals big money. Not from patients suing for damages, but simply because the main insurance companies announced that they would not pay any medical costs in respect of hospital acquired infections, with the result that suddenly the hospitals realised that the cost of cleanliness and hygiene was far less than having to carry the costs resulting from lack of them.
I would just draw attention to the experience of a close friend, like myself in her late seventies, who went into her local hospital for a relatively minor operation. The difference here was that she had been a Ward Sister in the very same hospital for a good many years before her retirement, and she was totally disgusted at the way standards had slipped, and was adamant that none of the nurses would have remained on the ward if she had still been in charge!
When she came out, she wrote a carefully considered letter to the hospital chief executive, pointing out the various shortcomings, mainly in respect of hygiene and general cleanliness. Nurses failing to wash their hands and with dirty uniforms, poor cleaning of the ward, dirty toilets and washing facilities and a general lack of interest by the nurses in their patients, including their watching television and chattering at the nursing station during the night. She pointed out that in her time, the last thing that she would do before the lights were dimmed was to go round all the patients on the ward and do her best to ensure that they were comfortable for the night, something that was seemingly no longer general practice.. She detailed how things should, in her opinion, be done.
The letter was replied to by some underling, just a few lines acknowledging its receipt and saying, in effect "we don't do things that way these days".
There is absolutely no need for lack of cleanliness and basic hygiene in our hospitals, particularly with the increase in antibiotic resistant "super-bugs", and with statistics appearing to indicate that hospital acquired infections are on the increase in the UK. The need for hygiene has been known since the days of Florence Nightingale, but presumably now is considered to be "something we don't do these days"!
It is interesting to note that such infections in the US are now generally on the decrease and for a very good reason, they can cost the hospitals big money. Not from patients suing for damages, but simply because the main insurance companies announced that they would not pay any medical costs in respect of hospital acquired infections, with the result that suddenly the hospitals realised that the cost of cleanliness and hygiene was far less than having to carry the costs resulting from lack of them.
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