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'Too many hospitals' are dirty

Date published: 15/12/2005

An inspection of the UK's hospitals has found that two thirds are still failing to meet the highest standards in cleanliness across the board.

A new report from the Healthcare Commission is calling for an improvement in cleanliness in order to "regain the confidence of patients", after visits to 99 NHS and private hospitals between July and September this year uncovered variable standards of cleanliness.

Publishing the findings of its first independent inspections of hospital cleanliness in England, the commission inspectors found that mental health hospitals visited performed particularly poorly on standards of cleanliness. There was also evidence of systemic problems in 23 hospitals, suggesting that cleanliness was unsatisfactory. Simon Gillespie, head of operations at the Healthcare Commission, said: "We have found some excellent performance.

"It is a myth to say all our hospitals are dirty. Among the highest scores were hospitals of all types... Nevertheless, the findings show that too many hospitals are failing to perform as well as they could. And some have particularly poor standards of cleanliness."

Recent media reports about hospital-acquired infections such as MRSA have turned the spotlight on to cleanliness levels in British hospitals and patients are becoming increasingly concerned about standards of hygiene and associated procedures. Items examined by the Healthcare Commission inspectors included medical equipment, beds, sinks, bedpans and toilets and, where appropriate A&E department areas, for spillages, dust, dirt and stains. Each hospital visited has been given a detailed account of the inspectors' findings to help them make improvements.

The commission plans to build on its initial findings, carrying out inspections of further hospitals and re-inspecting those that performed poorly. The evidence will be used to improve best practice guidelines and feed into a longer-term study of healthcare associated infection that will begin early next year.

Responding to the report, government health minister Jane Kennedy said: "This helpful survey looked at 61 of the worst and 10 of the best performers in the NHS and 90 per cent of NHS acute hospitals had high standards of cleanliness or were considered not dirty, suggesting massive improvements."

"We will work alongside the Healthcare Commission, the Mental Health Act Commission and the National Patient Safety Agency to rectify poor standards where they are found, and to progress a programme of work specifically directed at improving cleanliness in mental health settings," she added.

Mental health charity Mind has called for an improvement in the "shocking condition" of mental health hospitals in light of the report. Mind policy director Sophie Corlett said: "There must be a change of culture within mental health services to raise standards of hospital cleanliness. Only then will service users' basic dignity be ensured."

Liberal Democrats shadow health secretary, Steve Webb, claimed that the report was a "wake-up call to a complacent government" and called for basic hygiene to be central to every part of the NHS.

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