An inspection of a HSE community hospital in East Clare has found that insufficient staffing is leading to inadequate infection control at the facility.
The Health Information and Quality Authority has recommended that staffing resources be improved at Raheen Community Hospital as it claims the current shortfall is having a negative impact on environmental hygiene.
HIQA’s most recent announced inspection of Raheen Community Hospital in Tuamgraney took place on September 18th of this year.
The facility provides 24-hour long-term, short-term, respite and palliative care to both male and female residents and on the day of the inspection, a total of 22 residents were present.
While “high levels of satisfaction with the service” were reported, staffing was found to be the main area of concern.
The report states the centre “did not have adequate numbers of cleaning staff to ensure the centre was clean”, and notes that on seven occasions across the previous 10 days, only one housekeeper was on duty when a minimum of two were required.
HIQA goes on to say that this indicates a failure in governance and management as the provider had failed to ensure sufficient staffing resources were in place to maintain planned staffing levels.
Inspectors found a number of areas not cleaned to an acceptable standard such as bedrooms, en-suites, communal toilets and bathrooms, while cleaning procedure was found not to be in line with best practice guidance, with only “frequently touched surfaces and visibly unclean floors” the subject of routine cleaning.
In all, Raheen Community Hospital was found to be non-compliant in three areas and just substantially compliant in a further three.
The HSE has submitted a full compliance plan which states that a recruitment process is underway “to address any vacant posts within the services”.
