Hospital's infection control praised in new report
Infection prevention measures and a re-assuring video at Shropshire’s specialist orthopaedic hospital have been praised by the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England.
The good news comes following a recent review of infection prevention and control at The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital (RJAH) near Oswestry, where a representative from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) assessed the hospital trust’s current infection control arrangements, as part of a routine engagement call.
Although the CQC is not routinely inspecting services during the pandemic period and recovery phase, they are continuing to carry out some focussed inspections.
The CQC praised the Oswestry-based hospital for a number of reasons, including: for its undertaking of a thorough assessment of infection prevention control across all services, since the pandemic was declared; because appropriate systems are in place and include prompt identification of people within the organisation, who have or are at risk of developing an infection; because appropriate isolation facilities and cohorting areas have also been established for patients across the trust; and because the Trust has identified infection control champions who have visited the wards to provide training and workshops to staff.
Resources the trust has created were also praised by the regulator, including a video that shows what measures have been put in place from the front door onwards to keep people safe. The video can be viewed on the trust website at rjah.nhs.uk/Patient---Visitors.aspx.
Robust measures
The report said: “The trust continues to ensure the needs of staff are met and is completing relevant risk assessments for staff.
“All staff are given sufficient information to ensure they are aware of and discharge their responsibilities in preventing and controlling infection.
“There are systems of escalation in place should there be any difficulties in relation to PPE.”
Chris Morris, Interim director of nursing at RJAH, said: “It’s extremely pleasing to know that as well as the trust board the CQC feels assured by our infection prevention and control processes, particularly during this challenging time for all working within the NHS.
“Colleagues from across the trust have been and continue to work hard to ensure that our infection control measures remain robust.
“It was also fantastic to receive feedback on the video that we have created to show what measures have been put in place from the front door of the hospital onwards to keep people safe.
"We hope having this video out there for all to see will provide reassurance for our patients and for our visitors.”
