South Tipp General Hospital
A report, following an unannounced inspection on April 9th 2013, by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) at South Tipperary General Hospital, was published yesterday (June 21st 2013). Patients attending the facility were found to be at risk of contacting a hospital acquired infection, because of poor hygiene practices.
South Tipperary General Hospital was established in 2007. The hospital is a 193-bed (168 inpatient and 25 day patient) Level III acute general hospital providing emergency department, general medicine, general surgery, obstetrics/gynaecology, paediatrics and day case oncology services to the catchment area of South Tipperary, West Waterford and part of North Tipperary. Individual speciality catchment population varies from 92,000 to 134,000 with outreach clinics being provided at several locations including Thurles, Tipperary Town, and Cashel.
The areas assessed were:- Emergency Department, Maternity ward & Surgical 1 (latter female gynaecological surgery and male surgery).
South Tipperary General Hospital comes out worst in a report made on five Hospitals published yesterday.
HIQA Inspectors to South Tipperary General found:-
(1) No hand-wash sink in the maternity wards en-suite toilet and shower facility.
(2) Grit and waste paper on the floor of a room used for storing baby food in the maternity unit.
(3) Ward areas and equipment assessed were deemed to be unclean with dirty floors and evidence of grit found.
(4) Curtain rails in the emergency department were found to be heavily soiled with a black dust.
(5) One pharmacist spent a maximum of one day per week on antimicrobial stewardship as a matter of ‘goodwill,’ rather than any formal arrangement being put in place.
(6) The hospital did not have any formal, anti-microbiological stewardship programme in place, which indicated there was a lack of management in the use of antibiotics in the hospital.
The hospital will now be expected to prepare a quality improvement plan within the next six weeks and make same available publicly.
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