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A further report last month, this time from the
National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) found that 80
NHS trusts failed to act on 10 or more safety alerts,
300 trusts had not complied with at least one alert and
it concluded that many trusts were putting the lives of
their patients at risk by failing to comply, which in
many cases could lead to
claims of medical negligence.
In April last year the Care Quality
Commission (CQC) reported that 21 NHS trusts had
failed to meet new
hygiene standards, including Leeds
Partnerships NHS Foundation Trust, the Leeds Teaching
Hospitals NHS Trust and the Yorkshire Ambulance Service
NHS Trust. The trusts were given a deadline for taking
action to meet hygiene standards.
The CQC said that they
encountered a whole series of
fundamental errors including
poor cleaning of ambulances,
poor antibiotic prescribing
practice, delays in isolating
infected patients and lack of
supervision of cleaning and
infection control staff.
It also highlighted dirty
surgical equipment, a lack of
reporting of infection control
measures to board level, delays
in receiving laboratory test
results and poor standards of
cleanliness on wards.
Barbara Young, chairman of
the CQC, said of the 21 trusts
involved: "While infection rates
at these trusts are not
necessarily higher, they can do
more to strengthen their
approaches to infection control
and help prevent outbreaks. We
will monitor their performance
throughout the year and will not
hesitate to use our enforcement
powers to protect patients'
safety where needed."
The most recent case created
what was termed by some as the
biggest hospital scandal in a
decade. The independent report
into
Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation
Trust said that patients
were routinely neglected or left
‘sobbing and humiliated’ with at
least 400 deaths being linked to
the poor standard of care.
The damning report claimed
that managers were more
interested in reaching targets
and cost cutting than addressing
the care of patients and said
that the most basic elements of
health care were absent with
patients often left unwashed for
long periods of time, whilst
lying on soiled sheets.
The
NHS Confederation, which
represents health trusts, said:
“The responsibility for the way
this hospital was run rests with
its board, management and staff
but, as the report says, the
framework of targets, regulatory
systems and policy priorities it
worked within are also very
important.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article7039285.ece
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