The Rotunda Hospital exceeds national compliance targets in latest HIQA report
– Hand hygiene compliance target of 96.7%
– 95% of patients report hospital as being clean
– Some wards achieve results of 100% compliance
28th October 2016: The Rotunda Hospital has received positive evaluation from the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) for its standards of hygiene.
In an inspection report published by HIQA today, Friday 28th October, following an unannounced visit to the Hospital in August, The Rotunda was found to have high hygiene standards, and in many cases, had exceeded desired standards set by the HSE of 90%.
A Quality Improvement Plan has been developed to address the areas for improvement identified.
Results of an audit of equipment and environmental hygiene in the delivery suite in July showed 97% compliance with desired standards. An overall compliance score for hospital-wide hygiene showed a score of 94%.
Hand hygiene standards amongst staff were particularly high. 95% of staff in the delivery suite, and 100% of staff working in the operating theatre were up to date with hand hygiene training. Audits found that the hospital hand hygiene compliance rate, in May/June of 2016 was 96.7%, far exceeding the national compliance target.
Patient satisfaction reflected the positive results. When asked if teams had washed their hands, 90% of patient respondents said ‘always, yes.’ Additionally, 95% of respondents agreed that the hospital facilities were clean.
According to the report, “The hospital had exceeded the required HSE national hand hygiene compliance target of 90% and improved the uptake of hand hygiene training amongst staff which is commendable. The hospital has also implemented and embedded peripheral vascular care bundles across inpatient clinical areas in line with best practice guidelines.”
Master of The Rotunda, Professor Fergal Malone commented; “We as a team at The Rotunda take huge pride in these positive results. Keeping a building as old as ours – 260 years old – as clean as our staff do is no easy task. We manage a busy, working hospital that operates 24 hours a day and our staff do a wonderful job of ensuring that at all times, it is kept to the highest standards of hygiene. All of our staff are in-house; many of them life-long employees, and some come from generations of Rotunda employees. They really are the unsung heroes of this hospital. They impose the highest standards and take huge pride in their work. On behalf of all the staff, our patients and new mums, we thank them for ensuring that we have a Hospital operating to the highest hygiene standards.”
Geraldine Gannon, Clinical Midwife Manager said; “The report really reflects the high standards we have here at The Rotunda. Everyone here takes responsibility for making sure our hospital is at all times spotlessly clean. Our cleaning staff are always mindful of the environment in which they work and know that new mums value their privacy. They are so efficient at discreetly making sure that all wards and rooms are thoroughly cleaned. It has been a very busy year, but the work ethic, input and spirit of the team has been exemplary and we thank them sincerely for that effort.”