Patient films grimy hospital toilets - video (From Worcester News)

Patient films grimy hospital toilets - video

7:30am Saturday 25th August 2012 in News Photograph of the Author Exclusive By James Connell

COMPLAINT: Worcestershire Royal Hospital

This story was given to us via our Facebook page here .

A PATIENT filmed the "disgusting" state of a Worcester hospital’s toilets because of concerns about deadly superbug infections.

The 35-year-old patient, who asked not to be named, used her mobile phone to film herself wiping muck off doors, door frames and walls in three toilets at the Lavender unit at Worcestershire Royal Hospital last weekend.

Her videos, which have been emailed to health bosses, sparked an immediate apology from Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust which must meet stringent Government targets to reduce infections like MRSA and clostridium difficile (c.diff).

In the videos a notice on the toilet door says they are cleaned three times a day in the morning, at midday and in the afternoon.

But on film the patient can be seen wiping the metal panel of a door and bringing up a tissue to the camera which is black with grime, then doing the same thing with the top of a door which also comes back covered in dirt.

She can then be heard to say: “That is your hospital. It’s disgusting. They wonder why there are diseases being spread here.”

The woman, who spoke exclusively to the Worcester News because she wanted readers to see what she had filmed, said she saw the cleaner once in three days and she just had a broom and no disinfectant.

She said: “All the floors were filthy. The showers were filthy. There was grime in all the corners. I had an open wound and was paranoid to have a shower in there.

"I did complain to one of the nurses and she agreed it was disgusting. I said to one of the nurses ‘I have just been watching one of your cleaners. She doesn’t seem to do a lot does she?’ It’s diabolical.

"The nurse said ‘it’s not up to me to make sure it’s clean’.”

The woman was told she could report the matter to the ward sister but didn't because she did not believe anything would be done about it.

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust has issued the following statement in reaction to the video :

“We are sorry that this patient did not experience the usual high levels of cleanliness in our hospital. Patient experience is extremely important to us and as a matter of routine, senior members of our nursing staff pick up all complaints/concerns directly from patients. We were disappointed to learn during a routine call from one of our nurses that this patient didn’t want to discuss her concerns with us directly as individual experiences help us to improve the services we offer,” said Helen Blanchard, Chief Nursing Officer.

“We are working hard to tackle both MRSA and c.diff and have been making excellent progress over the last three years. In 2010/11 there were eight hospital acquired cases of hospital acquired MRSA blood stream infections, a figure that has dropped significantly to just one this year. In 2008/09 there were 198 cases of c.diff blood stream infections dropping to 65 in 2011/12. The Lavender Unit, where we understand this patient was treated, has not had an MRSA blood stream infection during that period and no cases of hospital acquired c.diff within the last 12 months.

“Cleaning is a significant part of how we are tackling this. We have in place a number of actions to ensure our staff, and contractors, maintain high standards of cleanliness. A routine Patient Environment Action Team (PEAT) inspection of the toilet/shower areas in the Lavender suite on Thursday, August 16 scored 100 per cent. As a result of this information, however, we will review our cleaning, and we’d like to thank her for drawing our attention to this matter as we take all patient concerns seriously.”

This story was given to us via our Facebook page here .

Comments(47)

imustbeoldiwearacap says...
8:50am Sat 25 Aug 12

So, why did not the patient ring the extension as shown at the beginning of the clip, or at least inform the ward sister? Saying she did not believe any thing would be done about it is foolish! Then again, ever since hospital cleaning was outsourced (along with many other important functions) standards have dropped! It used to be that the cleaners on any ward were an integral part of that ward and were managed by the ward sister. Now the cleaning staff answer to the company that employs them, and the company itself to gain a contract will pay low wages and only allow the minimum of time for cleaning each bathroom etc.