Hygiene standards at Navan hospital show improvements

Standards of hygiene in three of the five public hospitals in the north-east - including Our Lady"s in Navan - have improved over the last year, according to a new report. The Meath hospital scored an overall rating this year of 'fair" compared to 'poor" last year in ratings decided by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA). The three hospitals which have improved their ratings are Navan, Cavan General (from 'fair" in 2007 to 'good" in 2008) and Monaghan General ('fair" to 'good"). There are 20 National Hygiene Standards from which 56 criteria have been developed upon which hygiene is assessed as part of the national review. In overall terms, the numbers of A ratings (exceptional compliance) for the HSE Dublin/North-East region"s hospitals have more than doubled from 23 in 2007 to 62 in 2008 and the number of B ratings (extensive compliance) have increased from 122 to 147, with a corresponding reduction in C ratings (broad compliance). There was a very small number of D ratings (minimal compliance) across the region (three out of all 280 ratings received), and no E ratings. Cavan and Monaghan hospitals are two of only 12 hospitals in the country which achieved a rating of 'good" or 'very good" (only one hospital) in the 2008 review. Louth County Hospital maintained its overall rating of 'fair" and Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda maintained an overall rating of 'poor". Our Lady"s Hospital, Navan, made improvements in 21 of the criteria while Louth County Hospital has also improved in 19 of the 56 criteria. The HSE welcomed the report and said that, while the overall rating of 'poor" maintained by Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital (now used by an increasing number of patients from Meath) was 'disappointing', the hospital made improvements in 20 of the 56 criteria assessed. Its rating for 28 of the criteria remained unchanged. A HSE spokesperson said: 'The fact that it received two D ratings (minimal compliance) in two of the core criteria (out of the total 56 criteria) is what prevented Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital from improving its overall ratings from 'poor" in 2007 to 'fair" in 2008. Our Lady of Lourdes have confirmed that a detailed action plan is now in place to deal with issues identified and that led to its poor overall performance.' Welcoming the report, Stephen Mulvany, HSE hospital network manager for the north-east region, said: 'This type of report is essential to enable us to benchmark our performance against independent national standards and against other similar hospitals around the country. 'The public have a right to expect clean and hygienic hospitals and this is an essential foundation for safe, high-quality healthcare. Clearly, we have made very significant improvements in all of our hospitals in the north-east, particularly within the Cavan/Monaghan Hospital Group.' He said he wanted to acknowledge the consistent good work of all the relevant staff in the five hospitals in improving hygiene. 'As we look forward to 2009, our staff know there is no room for complacency in relation to hygiene performance and I know they will redouble their efforts in putting in place targeted action plans to strive to maintain or achieve a standard overall rating of 'good" or better for each of our five hospitals in the national review,' said Mr Mulvany. He said that key areas where improvements had been noted included hand hygiene, catering, laundry, waste, environment and equipment.