Following the publication of the most recent hygiene report, Cappagh Hospital must be congratulated for the tremendous improvements it has made to hospital hygiene in the last year. It is now ranked as the cleanest hospital in Ireland, and is the only one to be rated “very good”.

North Side hospitals can feel justifiable proud of the improvements they have made in hospital hygiene:

• 4 rated good or very good, compared to only 2 hospitals on the Southside being rated good.
• Southside hospitals have 7 rated fair, while only 2 North Side hospitals are rated fair.
• No hospital on the North Side experienced a deterioration in its rating, whereas St. Vincent’s on the Southside did.

Unfortunately while the Mater made big improvements increasing the number of “A” grades from 11 to 58, it is still only rated “Fair” because of a poor rating on some core tests concerning the physical facilities (showers, layout etc.) and gaps in their hygiene plan.

Temple Street made great strides this year and increased it’s rating from “fair” to “Good”, increasing its “A” grades from 5 to 48.

Beaumont has retained its “good” rating, and showed improvement under a number of areas, with a rise in “A” grades from 28 to 55.

Connolly is rated fair, and showed a little improvement, increasing its number of “A” grades by 6.

Although the Rotunda Hospital fared well on a lot of the basic hygiene tests, it lost points because of sometimes poor evaluation methods and provision of information; however it did hold onto its “Good” rating.

A continued emphasis on hygiene will help to reduce infection and disease, and save lives. All the hospitals can do more to ensure that they are cleaner and safer for our patients.