HYGIENE inspectors found patient trolleys dirty and medical staff shoes blood-stained in an unannounced visit to a Glasgow hospital.
Watchdogs from the Healthcare Environment Inspectorate (HEI) examined the wards and the surgical theatre in Gartnavel General Hospital in the city's west end.
They found patient transfer trolleys and chairs in the wards and corridors that were "dirty on the undercarriages and within the groves of the trolley rails".
Inspectors found a "lack of leadership" during theatre cleaning.
Policy states that theatre staff are responsible for cleaning their own shoes which have been contaminated with bodily fluids.
But inspectors said: "In the male and female changing rooms we saw footwear contaminated with blood.
"These were stored as clean and ready for use.
Equipment used to position patient during surgery was found to be damaged and so couldn't be properly cleaned.
HEI, part of Healthcare Improvement Scotland, have called on NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to take action to rectify the issues - with four separate requirements -"as a matter of priority".
HEI inspectors said the overall standards of cleanliness at the hospital were good and an education programme for new-starts in the theatre department was comprehensive.
Jacqui Macrae, Head of Quality of Care for Healthcare Improvement Scotland, said: “This is our first combined inspection report to examine the wards and the theatre department in a hospital.
"We found that the standard of environmental cleanliness in the hospital was good, however we also identified areas that need to be addressed.
"For example, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde must ensure that patient transport trolleys and chairs are clean and ready for use.
"The ward inspection resulted in one requirement and the theatre inspection resulted in three requirements.
"We expect NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to address these areas as a matter of priority.”
A spokeswoman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said they were " very pleased to note the number of positive findings" .
The spokeswoman added: "In particular, we were pleased with the positive feedback from patients and visitors, that the inspectors noted that communication between different staff groups and teams was generally good and staff were well informed about infection prevention and control issues.
"There was also good compliance with the dress code and uniform policy and overall the areas inspected were found to be clean.
"However, we recognise that there are still areas we need to address and an improvement plan has been developed to ensure that the four requirements made by the HEI team are implemented."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here