CBCs dirty hospital report sparks changes

A CBC investigation into unsanitary conditions at the nations hospitals has sparked a change in policy by Canadas biggest health authority and a flood of email messages from concerned viewers

With hidden cameras including Canadas first hidden camera glowgel test the consumer show Marketplace visited several hospitals in Ontario and British Columbia secretly applying a harmless gel to hightouch surfaces then returning 24 hours later to see whether the gel had been removed which would indicate the surface had been cleaned

The program revealed many instances where cleaning had not been carried out and that sparked a response from the Niagara Health System NHS the biggest in the country whose hospitals have suffered a recent Clostridium difficile outbreak It has decided to end its relationship with the private US cleaning company Aramark

NHS authorities wouldnt specify why they made the move but did tell CBC News they will be adding quotthe equivalent of 18 new fulltime cleaning positionsquot It has been suggested that Aramark was at least partly to blame for the C difficile outbreaks

quotThey made decisions around staffing levelsquot Eoin Callan of the Service Employees International Union told CBC News quotThey made decisions around what was cleaned what was not cleaned how frequently things were cleaned And they also had an incentive to use cheaper diluted cleaning chemicals that were not as effective because it allowed them to pad their profit marginsquot

Ontario Minister of Health Deb Matthews wouldnt talk on camera but told Marketplace quotWe expect our hospitals to make the best decisions to protect patient safety in their communitiesquot

The NHS decision may be good news for those awaiting a hospital stay but cold comfort to people such as Ken Hough who returned home three weeks ago after a stay at St Thomas Elgin General Hospital in St Thomas Ont

quotYou really wouldnt believe it unless youve seen itquot Hough told Marketplace reporter Erica Johnson describing rooms where he says dirty bandages and plastic needle covers littered the floor

The bathroom was the worst he said

quotFeces on the back of the toiletquot he recalled quotYoud go in to use it and youd pivot I put on rubber gloves to use the toilet seat and just thought no Im not doing thisquot

Emails from across the country echoed Houghs observations

quotThe waste baskets in the bathroom were overflowingquot an email from Vancouver read It took quotthree days to clean up vomitquot a Calgary viewer wrote And an email from Winnipeg described quotfeces left on the floorquot for days

About onethird of hospitals in Ontario outsource their janitorial services CBC News has learned and that figure is higher in British Columbia and some other provinces

Date : 27 Mar, 2012
Reference : http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2012/03/26/marketplace-dirty-hospital-folo.html

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