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Concern about cleanliness in Tameside high dependency unit

Posted By P of Glossop

"Concern about cleanliness in Tameside high dependency unit"

About: Tameside General Hospital

(as a friend),

My friend was admitted to the high dependency unit with severe breathing difficulties. I visited him at around 3pm and there were still dirty lunch plates in the corridor with food leftovers on them, with flies circling the trolleys.

As I sat at his bedside I looked at piles of papers and postit notes on the central desk area and wondered how they could keep it clean. When my eye was drawn to the back of a pillar in the middle of the floor, which still had Christmas cards stuck up on it 3 months after Christmas - so just how often is the high dependency unit cleaned, and if that's a specialist area what's the rest like?

My friend sadly died.

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Responses

Response from Philip Dylak, Director of Nursing, Tameside Hospital Foundation Trust 14 years ago
Philip Dylak
Director of Nursing,
Tameside Hospital Foundation Trust

Submitted on 08/03/2010 at 12:06
Published on Care Opinion on 09/03/2010 at 00:00

Dear P of Glossop,

I was very disappointed to read of your experiences as these do not meet the standards we expect or normally find.

I have asked the Matron for the area to undertake an urgent inspection and report her findings to me. I hope this will confirm that this was a one off issue.

May I also offer my condolences on the sad loss of your friend.

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Update posted by P of Glossop (a friend)

Thank you for this response.

However, my previous experience at Tameside leads me to feel that the problems with cleanliness that I reported are not a "one-off", but a long-running problem.

In the interests of public accountability, I would like to ask that the findings from the urgent inspection of cleanliness on the high dependency unit you refer to are posted onto this site.

Response from Philip Dylak, Director of Nursing, Tameside Hospital Foundation Trust 14 years ago
Philip Dylak
Director of Nursing,
Tameside Hospital Foundation Trust

Submitted on 28/04/2010 at 10:39
Published on Care Opinion on 30/04/2010 at 01:00

The Matron for the area attended the CCU/MHDU and reported as follows:-

I attended CCU/MHDU on my last matrons rounds specifically to focus on the concerns raised by P of Glossop. The dirty meal trays from CCU/MHDU are sent back to the kitchen in the meal trolley immediately and I have never seen dirty meal trays in the joint MAU/CCU corridor as this is a main thoroughfare so I’m afraid I have no explanation for the meal plates in the corridor.

The CCU/MHDU staff have cleaned and decluttered the nurse’s station but I did not find any old Christmas cards stuck to the pillar near the nurses station. There was a picture of a staff member’s new baby and a thank you card present during my visit. I will continue to monitor the situation.

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