I was disappointed to hear that 21 out of 388 NHS trusts have failed to pass the hygiene tests that were set by the health watchdog for England to establish whether they can be registered as safe to treat patients.
I was more disappointed that Lincoln’s Hospital is one of them.
The aim of the tests is to reduce the number of people who enter hospital in order to get well but end up coming out worse off than they went in, and is therefore part of a system being introduced for registering NHS trusts as fit to practice. The Care Quality Commission gave unconditional registration to 367 trusts and congratulated the NHS as a whole on improvements in cleanliness and a reduction in the number of patients infected with MRSA, Clostridium Difficile and other superbugs. Unfortunately, Lincoln isn’t one of them and whilst it also may have reduced such infections, it has only received conditional registration because it didn’t yet fully observe the regulations for maintaining cleanliness and safety. It may therefore be at risk in sustaining any improvements.
United Lincolnshire Hospitals
Failure to comply may lead to fines or the trust may be forced to close wards or departments if they do not quickly improve.
Next year the bar will be raised so to gain registration, trusts will have to meet a wider range of standards, including satisfying patients about the quality of their care.
I fully accept that most patients who attend our local hospital are entirely satisfied with the very good standard of care offered to them and have nothing but praise for the excellent nursing and medical staff that we have there. I have recently talked with some of them and I believe that if Management were to listen to what they have to say then improvements on several fronts, including hygiene, would come even more quickly.
Residents within the United Lincolnshire Hospital’s catchment deserve to be served with the highest standards and generally they are, but this failure must be taken seriously and dealt with decisively.