Children kept on dirty wards at Ormond St

Sick children at high risk of infection were kept on dirty wards at Great Ormond Street hospital and medical equipment was not cleaned properly, a report has revealed.

The leading children's hospital has been criticised for breaching hygiene rules designed to stop the spread of superbugs. Inspectors from the Healthcare Commission visited the hospital twice in December and found that staff were not properly sterilising medical instruments used for internal examinations. It also found that dust had built up in wards for vulnerable children.

The commission's report said: "We saw reusable equipment used [which] had not been cleaned properly and found that staff members were unclear about who was responsible for cleaning this equipment." The room used to clean flexible endoscopes, which are long tubes used to look inside a patient's body, was also criticised for being cluttered, with unsuitable sinks and outdated decontamination equipment.

It also warned about the cleanliness of wards. The report said: "We visited three wards where children who may be particularly vulnerable to infection are cared for and found that the levels of cleanliness and maintenance on the wards varied. We found light dust, which indicated that the published cleaning frequencies were not being adhered to."

The commission has given the hospital six months to improve

"Six months"? Not "by next week" or "by tomorrow"?

Source: Evening Standard