Hygiene issues at Wexford General Hospital pose a high risk to the health and welfare of patients, according to the health safety body HIQA.

Staff at the hospital have been threatened with disciplinary action and sanctions if they do not attend hygiene education sessions.

A HIQA report on recent hygiene inspections at the hospital found major deficits in hand hygiene practice among staff.

HIQA said that there did not appear to be a culture of best practice hand hygiene at the hospital and there was resistance among staff to attend educational sessions on hygiene practice, with low levels of attendance reported.

At one inspection in March, HIQA officials found that only 52% of nurses and healthcare assistants in one ward inspected were up to date with hand hygiene training.

Staff, according to HIQA, were recently warned by Wexford Hospital management that failure to attend hand hygiene training may result in disciplinary procedures and sanctions being applied as appropriate.

The nature of the disciplinary procedures had not been determined at the time of the most recent inspection, according to HIQA.

HIQA said the performance of Wexford Hospital in national hand hygiene audits was considerably lower than the targets set by the HSE each year, and also considerably lower than the overall compliance across all hospitals who participate in the audits.

The HIQA report also said the management of healthcare risk waste in isolation rooms at the hospital raised concerns.

The report of a hygiene inspection by the Health Information and Quality Authority into Wexford General Hospital found issues which posed "a high risk to the health or welfare of patients."

Unannounced inspections were conducted on 4 March and 17 April last.

HIQA said that the evidence reviewed during inspection did not demonstrate an executive commitment to reducing the risk to patients of acquiring healthcare-associated infections.
HIQA finds 'high risk to health or welfare of patients' at Wexford hospital
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The authority said that there did not appear to be a culture of hand hygiene best practice at the hospital and there was resistance to attendance at educational sessions.

The hospital told HIQA that annual hand hygiene training and education were made mandatory for all disciplines by May 2013.

However, during the inspection on 4 March, HIQA found that only 52% of nurses and healthcare assistants in one of the clinical areas inspected were up to date with hand hygiene training.

Wexford General Hospital has said that a new state of the art Emergency Department, inclusive of isolation facilities, is operational from today which will provide a much enhanced environment for patients and staff.

The new Emergency Department also includes a new reception and waiting areas,

The hospital said it had a solid record as a safe provider of health care to the people of the Co Wexford area.

The HSE said it was a big, busy hospital but has an Action Plan in place both to address the HIQA hygiene audit observations and to ensure that the mandatory hand hygiene practices are observed.

HIQA says that in 2013, Wexford General reported a hand hygiene audit compliance rate of just under 72%, which is 18% less than the HSE national target of 90%.