Hospitals fail hygiene standards

The Edinburgh Royal Infirmary was only built five years ago

Three of Scotland's leading hospitals have failed to meet the highest hygiene standards, according to a new study.

Edinburgh's Royal Infirmary, the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley and the Raigmore in Inverness failed to meet cleanliness standards in some areas.

The figures were in the first quarterly report by the NHS in Scotland on how hospitals and boards are complying with national cleaning specifications.

The hospitals were categorised in an amber warning grade by the study.

Action plan

The report grades hospitals and health boards under a traffic light system - red for a compliance level of less than 70%, amber for between 70% and 90% and green for above 90%.

The compliance rate for ERI, which was only built five years ago, was 84.1%.

Raigmore scored 83.1% and the Royal Alexandra complied with 84.4% of the standards.

NHS body Health Facilities Scotland, which produced the report, said Raigmore did not complete a required number of audits and this was reflected in an action plan.

Compliance scores for the major hospitals in Scotland included Aberdeen Royal Infirmary (97.8%), Dundee's Ninewells hospital (97.7%), Glasgow Royal Infirmary (96.9%), Glasgow's Gartnavel General Hospital (96.6%) and the Glasgow Western Infirmary (94.2%) - all in the green category.

It is unacceptable that cleanliness standards have not been met Brian Cavanagh NHS Lothian

The 17 second-tier hospitals rated green ranged from Wishaw General, which scored 98.8%, to Inverclyde Royal Hospital which scored 91.8%.

The Golden Jubilee National Hospital in Clydebank scored 97.1%, but the State Hospitals Board for Scotland, which runs Carstairs, scored just 84.7%, the only health board to fall into the amber category.

Compilers of the report said the monitoring was based on two types of audit - one carried out by domestic services managers, and another type carried out by independent teams, sometimes including members of the public.

Health Minister Andy Kerr said the amber compliance rating demonstrated that "the monitoring tool is doing its job and is flagging up problem areas so that cleaning standards can be improved".

Brian Cavanagh, chair of NHS Lothian said: "Consort, who are responsible for the cleaning at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, were told some time ago that they needed to improve their cleanliness audit procedures.

"It is unacceptable that cleanliness standards have not been met."

He said he would meeting the company to seek assurances that new procedures were in place and improvements had been made.

Staff training

Douglas Seago, head of facilities management for NHS Highland, which operates Raigmore, said the figures were disappointing.

He said: "It was primarily down to the level of monitoring and staff becoming used to a new system.

"In June we managed to achieve an 89% compliance and in August we are looking at a 92% level of compliance.

"So in quarter two we will be in the green band and we will be achieving the over 90% average."

A statement from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, which operates the Royal Alexandra, said there had been "continual improvements month on month".

It said: "We have an action plan in place to improve and maintain cleaning standards consistent with national monitoring standards.

"Comprehensive staff training protocols have been put in place along with extensive monitoring processes."