A MATERNITY hospital condemned over hygiene failures has made improvements in cleanliness and infection control but inspectors warned that theatre equipment was still at risk of contamination.
Aberdeen Maternity Hospital was at the centre of a damning report by inspectors when they highlighted evidence of blood-stained equipment and dirty wards.
A series of unannounced inspections last year found "significant" issues with the neonatal unit, operating theatre and procedure room, including bodily fluids on walls, blood on bed rails, frames and mattresses.
NHS Grampian has seen complaints about maternity care increasing year-on-year, from 31 in 2009 to 73 in 2013.
Inspectors visited the unit, which is due to be replaced by a new maternity hospital, for an unannounced inspection on June 30 and July 1 and found that two requirements had been met, and the third was partially met.
Dr Roelf Dijkhuizen, Medical Director of NHS Grampian, welcomed the "marked improvement" in standards reported by inspectors.
Susan Brimelow, HEI Chief Inspector, said: "We will continue to monitor standards of cleanliness at Aberdeen Maternity Hospital."
Meanwhile, a report by Unison said hospital cleaners had been told to use washing up liquid instead of bleach to save money.
Dave Watson, Unison Scotland's Head of Bargaining and Campaigns, said: "Cleaners provide a vital service across our public services, but they tell us how the cuts mean they are struggling to keep up hygiene standards."
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 hereComments are closed on this article