10:20am Monday 21st December 2009
BASILDON Hospital’s shamed A&E department has been given a clean bill of health by inspectors.
Officials from the Care Quality Commission carried out an unannounced spotcheck in the casualty unit last week and found “no areas for concern,” according to health chiefs at the hospital.
The findings are to be published on the commission’s website on December 23.
It comes as the hospital has implemented a series of improvements in A&E to drive up hygiene standards following a spotcheck by the commission in October, which found a number of failings.
Maggie Rogers, director of nursing at the hospital, said: “We are thrilled they found no problems.”
She added several initiatives already in place to deal with cleanliness in A&E had been “strengthened” in the wake of the hygiene scandal. Problems with dirty mattresses were being addressed and other concerns raised in the report dealt with.
Among the actions brought in are more walkabouts by senior members of staff to check cleaning levels.
Mrs Rogers added: “The blood splattered equipment issue was regarding a piece of equipment which was in our resuscitation room. It’s not unusual to see blood in A&E wards especially in resuscitation rooms.
“But we’ve put measures in place to ensure it doesn’t happen again. We’ve had a lot of support from GPs and patients We are confident GPs aren’t warning patients to go to other hospitals for treatment.
“We are still working on our action plan which has been in place since May to address quality of care.”
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