Hygiene inspector shocked at dirty hospitals

Helen Puttick, Health Correspondent

Published on 18 Mar 2010

Scotland ’s first hospital inspector says she is disappointed by the poor standard of cleaning she has uncovered on NHS wards.

In her first interview since starting work, Susan Brimelow said she had been surprised by the condition of some of Scotland’s hospitals and revealed some NHS managers had resisted her tough approach to tackling the problem.

Ms Brimelow, who has been in post for almost six months, said the qualifications of her team of inspectors had been questioned and some managers thought they could influence the way she wrote her reports.

Now she is calling on the public to come to her about hygiene and cleanliness problems they spot in Scotland’s hospitals.

Ms Brimelow said: “I was surprised at the standard we found and I think the health service was not prepared for the rigour of inspection. I have been set up to leave no stone unturned. It is unprecedented scru tiny of the health service.”

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon announced the creation of an independent inspectorate for Scotland’s hospitals in the wake of the fatal Clostridium difficile outbreak at the Vale of Leven Hospital in Dunbartonshire in 2008.

Ms Brimelow was appointed chief inspector of the body – the Healthcare Environment Inspectorate (HEI) – last June from a job directing healthcare regulation with Scotland’s Care Commission.

Since September her teams have visited 16 hospitals, covering establishments in every health board area except the Western Isles.

Asked for details about what had disappointed her, Ms Brimelow said: “The standards of cleanliness, particularly around the cleaning of equipment, commodes, the under side of beds and high-level dusting.

“Then there was the estate. I was surprised at how the estate was being maintained. Early on we found holes in the walls, ventilators all clogged up with dust, things not being repaired.”

She also said infection control manuals outlining procedures were missing from wards and staff had versions that were out of date. It was also found that regular training on preventing the spread of bugs was absent.

After Aberdeen Royal Infirmary attracted the criticism of inspectors, Ms Brimelow said she “would not have been happy” to have been treated there.

Improvements are now taking place at hospitals, she said, and some good practice, such as careful prescribing of antibiotics to reduce the emergence of superbugs, has been highlighted by her reports.

Ms Brimelow, a former nurse, said: “I do not want to worry patients. I want to give them confidence and assurance that this is an independent inspectorate that will take their concerns seriously. We are visiting all hospitals in Scotland, both on an announced and unannounced basis, and that level of scrutiny should bring assurance.”

She is urging patients to contact her about particular problems and said she would act if there appeared to be an issue with a hospital or department.

Ms Sturgeon said: “High standards of cleanliness are absolutely critical as part of our drive to crack down on hospital infections. I set up the HEI to shine a light on Scotland’s hospitals, putting them under unprecedented levels of scrutiny.

“I always knew that this process would be challenging and, at times, difficult, particularly where short comings are discovered. But identifying issues is an important element of the improvement process.

“Crucially, where the HEI process finds areas of concern, action is taken swiftly to address the issues, with HEI continuing to monitor closely.”