A contractor responsible for cleaning at University Hospital Lewisham has apologised after footage emerged of a worker wiping walls and an empty bed with the same mop.
I wish I could say I was surprised...
She wrote: "When we got to the self isolation ward and were appointed a bed, the bay next to my son had food all over the floor, the bed had been stripped and all the bins on the ward was full.
"There was a child opposite awaiting results also. By 6/7PM the patient had been taken to a different ward, no cleaner/nurse attended to clean after the patient had left.
"On Sunday, still no cleaners had attended to clean the ward nor the bay that the patient had left the previous day."
After complaining about the ward not being cleaned a cleaner attended at 4.50pm on the Sunday".
Yes, she complained. I guess the nurses didn't look up from their magazines long enough to notice the filth slowly accumulation...
It was then that Ms Mitchell recorded one of ISS's contracted cleaners wiping the floor, wall, and vacant bed with the same mop.
"The cleaner used one mop and bucket to mop the walls and floor of the bay the previous patient had left and then went to the bay next to my son and cleaned the mattress with the SAME mop and bucket of water and then mopped the floor," she continued.
"The bins were still not changed and nothing had been wiped down. I.E chairs, bed frames, bed side unit, over bed tray ETC.
"He then left and I again complained to the nurses on duty what I had witnessed."
Who probably tutted with annoyance at this unexpected addition to their workload.
A spokeswoman for ISS said: “We are so sorry that this happened; we have apologised to the person who raised these concerns and are carrying out a full investigation.
"The incidents observed are not in line with our cleaning processes or the extensive training programme that our healthcare cleaners undertake to ensure the highest standards of cleaning.
"We are also undertaking an immediate review of our audit and monitoring programme, in conjunction with the Trust, to ensure that that our high standards of cleaning are adhered to and maintained at all times.”
I wonder if you typed that with a straight face..?
Hospital cleaning back in my day (mid 1970s) was done using carbolic cleaning agents. Not only was everywhere clean but you could smell it had been cleaned. I am a firm believer in microbiological cleanliness and would have swabs taken from cleaned areas including carpets tested in the lab. These days quaternary ammonium compounds and detergents are used, much milder and less corrosive. No smell of course. Back in the day Matron would have been on the case and given those nurses in that bay area a rocket for letting it get so filthy. The NHS has slipped since healthcare staff no longer manage hospitals. Cleaning is the most vital hygiene practice and is given to minimum wage staff most who whom or many of whom hardly speak any English. Do you think the training actually goes in and stays in?
ReplyDeleteWere we to immediately defund NHS and Plod, only the screams of fat parasites embedded within those 'services' would be heard. For the rest of us, the benefits would be immense.
ReplyDeleteWhy can't we go back to the days when the cleaning staff were employed by the hospital, instead of some disinterested outside company which employs the otherwise unemployable, and who are only interested in their profits; when each ward, or wing, was under the control of a matron or senior charge nurse responsible for the care of patients, including the efficiency of the nursing staff and cleanliness and hygiene? Nowadays, registered nurses require a degree (thank you Not NICE) and are therefore too qualified to do the 'belittling jobs' like changing bed sheets, taking temperatures and being proud of their nursing care. "That's what nursing assistants are for" is the cry, even though some of them, not all, are only one step up from cleaner described. Being told, and scolded, that my BMI showed I was overweight (I'm not) by a female porker of a nursing assistant, employed by a nursing agency, who had to turn sideways to get out of the door, showed me the current level of mismanagement the NHS.
ReplyDeletePenseivat
If you read the comments under the "NewsShopper" article you'll see the depths of statist ignorance this country has been reduced to. There's not one comment critical of the NHS medical/nursing/supervisory NHS staff who (presumably) knew about this and did nothing.
ReplyDeleteNo: the criticism is levelled at the cleaning company (which is correct since - again presumably - they were contracted to do the cleaning) and the process of "outsourcing" (read "privatisation of our NHS") of the cleaning. Apparently before cleaning was outsourced the hospital was sparkling clean and medically sterile with "lovely" well-paid NHS employees singing as they worked.
"It was then that Ms Mitchell recorded one of ISS's contracted cleaners wiping the floor, wall, and vacant bed with the same mop."
ReplyDeleteIt's obvious what solution the hospital will employ to remedy the problem - new policy that prohibits picture taking or recording images on hospital property. Problem solved.
Yes. I've had quite a bit of experience of NHS hospitals over the last twenty years or so and I'd say that's about typical really. Not just the poor cleaning technique but the lack of any initiative whatsoever to even register it as a problem worthy of attention.
ReplyDeleteIt's better than being left by a road to die, but it is a very long way from the "lofty ethics" sort of institution people long for and therefore insist is reality.
Used to be electronic engineer and occasionally worked in clean-room conditions.
ReplyDeleteFull head to toe fine mesh suit, hood, shoe covering always put on in a sealed ante-chamber and removed when leaving. Inside positive pressure finely filtered and dried air.
But then it was important that stuff worked, at least up to the end of warranty.
I do think it good that disposable electronic and optical stuff is treated better than sick people.
The conscientious staff rigorously use the hand sanitiser after popping outside for a puff. But the bugs are up the nose, on the uniform.
And even top consultants can be seen thoughtfully rubbing the nose or scratching hair.
"Not only was everywhere clean but you could smell it had been cleaned."
ReplyDeleteContributing to that 'hospital smell'. Which you don't get much of, these days. Oh, they smell, to be sure. But sadly, not of hospitals.
"... only the screams of fat parasites embedded within those 'services' would be heard."
Maybe. I continue to believe there's some good staff still grimly hanging on in there...
"Why can't we go back to the days when the cleaning staff were employed by the hospital..."
It's supposedly more efficient this way. For whom, I ask?
" There's not one comment critical of the NHS medical/nursing/supervisory NHS staff who (presumably) knew about this and did nothing."
Of all the things to emerge from 2020's little nervous breakdown, the excessive love of the NHS has to surely be the most bizarre. As well as the exhortations to 'protect it'.
I thought its purpose was to protect us?
"It's obvious what solution the hospital will employ to remedy the problem - new policy that prohibits picture taking or recording images on hospital property. "
Citing 'benefits to the patient', no doubt. 🤦♀️
"Not just the poor cleaning technique but the lack of any initiative whatsoever to even register it as a problem worthy of attention."
Spot on! But then, we must remember, WE aren't the customer. Are we?
"But then it was important that stuff worked..."
Who cares if patients survive? It's not like anything really bad happens if they don't...