Altnaglevin Hospital, Londonderry - 22 November 2011

In Ward 40 at the entrance to the ward
the bracket holding the alcohol
dispenser was broken, not visible and
was nearly empty. Also the brackets
for holding the alcohol dispenser on
the drugs trolleys were all broken. The
inspectors were impressed with the
new Infection Control stations located
throughout the ward, however two of
the alcohol dispensers were broken
(Picture 5). Alcohol dispensers were
not always available at the patients
beds, at the point of care.
Picture 5: Ward 40 Hand hygiene station
Ward 3 and Ward 40 were fully compliant with regard to the availability
of personal protective equipment (PPE). In Ward 31, disposable
gloves and aprons and in Ward 8 disposable gloves, were available
from a dispenser in the dirty utility room. The infection prevention and
control staff confirmed at the feed back session that due to a risk of
contamination, PPE should not be stored in this room.
In all four wards inspectors founds instances of cleaning chemicals or
disinfectants not being held under locked conditions in line with Control
of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) regulations. In Wards 3
and 40 nursing staff were not sure of the correct dilution rates for
Actichlor Plus, and in Ward 31 detergent wipes were not available on
patient testing equipment trolleys.
In Ward 8 the bedpan washer was out of order, when questioned
nursing staff gave varying answers on how to manually clean bed
pans. Staff were also unsure of the correction solutions in use for
general cleaning.
The cleaning trolley in Ward 8 was old, worn and required cleaning. A
red mop and bucket with dirty water was observed in the domestic
store and an un-bagged dirty mop head was on the floor. The static
mop in both Wards 8 and Ward 40 was dirty and clogged with dust.
In Ward 40 there were no yellow mops or mop buckets available for
cleaning in isolation areas.
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