My friend Patrick McGuire who is a partner at Thompsons and represents the families of the 18 victims of the Vale of Leven outbreak of C-Diff has slammed Scotland’s “Dirty Dozen” hospitals for failing to meet cleanliness standards which have been designed to prevent another outbreak of the killer bug.
I was very surprised and horrified to learn that the Healthcare Environment Inspectorate has revealed that 12 of Scotland’s major hospitals have failed to meet acceptable standards of cleanliness and infection control. What is even more horrific is the fact that most of these hospitals knew that the inspectors were coming. I dread to think how bad things would have been had they not been warned!! It will be interesting to see what happens next as it has been announced that the HEI would now make 90% of hospital visits unannounced, compared with the present rate of 15%.
The failings included not washing hands between patients, not wearing appropriate protective equipment and not disposing of waste appropriately. This saddens me as we already know that a failure to prevent the spread of infection can be potentially fatal. I hope that the next inspections have better results.The Hospitals named in the report are:
- Aberdeen Royal Infirmary
- Monklands Hospital
- Queen Margaret Hospital, Dunfermline
- Ayr Hospital
- Borders General Hospital
- Western General, Edinburgh
- Hairmyres, East Kilbride
- Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy
- Crosshouse, Kilmarnock
- Arran War Memorial Hospital
- St John's, Livingston
- Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital
Have you been a patient in any of these hospitals? I hope if I ever need to stay in hospital matters improve!
