Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals (BSUH) has passed an independent hygiene spot-check, placing it in the top 20% of hospitals in England.
The unannounced spot-check was carried out by inspectors from the Healthcare Commission at Brighton’s Royal Sussex County Hospital and the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath at the end of January. The Commission has published its inspection findings this week, concluding that BSUH, which also runs the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital, Hurstwood Park Neurosciences Centre and the Sussex Eye Hospital, is successfully implementing the Government’s statutory hygiene code.
The hygiene code lists the actions that hospitals in England must take to ensure that patients are cared for in a clean environment, where the risks of ‘superbugs’ such as MRSA and C.difficile are kept as low as possible. These actions, contained in the 11 duties of the code, cover all aspects of inspection control, not just cleanliness.
Four areas of the code were under scrutiny during the January inspection, rating the hospitals’ infection control management systems, overall cleanliness, the provision of isolation facilities to prevent or minimise the spread of infection and on the prescription of antimicrobials. BSUH passed in the ‘best performing’ category in all four areas.
‘Infection prevention and control is an area where we have made lots of investment – of time, energy and money – and we are seeing significant improvements. The findings of this inspection show just how hard everyone is working and how far we have come. It also sends a very clear and confident message about the highest priority we are placing on cleanliness and good infection control in our hospitals,’ says BSUH Chief Executive, Duncan Selbie.
Notes to editors
For more information, contact BSUH Communications Manager
Martha Robinson: 01273 664757 (martha.robinson@bsuh.nhs.uk )
Click here to download the hygiene code summary report
