ROYAL Free hospital bosses have admitted they do not have round-the-clock cleaners based in their Accident and Emergency department.
The admission came after it emerged blood stains were left uncleaned on an accident and emergency ward ceiling for a month.
But hospital chiefs maintain that they are making progress tackling hygiene problems, pointing to falling MRSA ‘Superbug’ rates at the Hampstead hospital.
The Free still has one of the highest rates of MRSA infection in the country. Asked by the New Journal why they do not have cleaners permanently based in casualty, a spokeswoman said: “We have enough cleaners for the current workload. If we were to introduce 24-hour dedicated cleaners in A&E we would have to recruit more staff.
“This is something that we are considering but no decision will be taken until all the options are assessed and the costs known.”
At the moment medics working on busy night shifts must call for a cleaner to come from another part of the hospital, although human fluid spillages must be cleaned by nurses, not cleaners.
Nurse Yvonne Carter, in charge of the infection control team at the hospital, said: “Doctors and nurses are very busy and they don’t always get the chance to check everything as clearly as they should.
“Nine times out of ten stains on the ceiling turn out to be iodine used in tests, not blood, but we have reminded staff to look up.”
A hospital spokesman added: “We are looking again at how we provide 24-hour cleaning cover in A and E, although the best way may not necessarily be placing a cleaner on the ward through the night – what is important is that the right measures are in place.”
Last week an outbreak of MRSA forced a patients’ bay to be sealed off at the hospital
Hospital sources confirmed that two patients in the Crawshay ward on the 10th floor of the hospital had been diagnosed with the deadly bug.
According to a spokeswoman the ward has now been given the all-clear, with the affected patients either treated or discharged. MRSA rates at the Free have fallen over the last five years following a high of 68 reports over a six-month period in 2001 to a figure of 37 reports over the same period last year.