Mayo hospital welcomes HIQA compliance report
HSE West and North West and Swinford District Hospital welcome the publication by Health Information Quality Authority (HIQA) of its report following an inspection at the hospital.
The announced inspection was conducted on 13 and 14 November 2024.
The HIQA inspection focused on 11 national standards from five of the eight themes in National Standards for Safer Better Healthcare.
The inspectors looked at four key areas of known harm: infection prevention and control, medication safety, the deteriorating patient and transitions of care.
Of the 11 standards, the hospital was found to be compliant with two national standards, substantially compliant with seven national standards and partially compliant with two national standards.
There were no instances of non-compliance reported.
Welcoming the report findings, Des Mulligan, Head of Older Persons Services, HSE West said: “This is a positive report and I would like to thank the staff in Swinford District Hospital for continuing to prioritise the provision of safe and high quality care for our patients.
"In particular, the inspection highlighted the hospital’s commitment to fostering a culture of kindness, consideration, and respect and this was also evident in-patient feedback.
“We welcome HIQA’s findings and recognise the important role of the Regulator in assessing and promoting safety and quality in the healthcare services.
"A number of actions are now underway to address areas of improvement identified in the report.”
The HIQA report found there was evidence that hospital management and staff were committed to ensuring that patients’ dignity, privacy and autonomy were respected and promoted in the hospital.
This commitment was evident through respectful communication, secure handling of patient information, and provision of private spaces for patients and their families.
In response to the report’s findings, the hospital has undertaken a number of actions to improve medication safety;
An agreement has been reached with a Community Pharmacist to provide a service to the hospital.
This will include supervision, audit and oversight of medication in the hospital on a part time basis
The Hospital’s Drugs and Therapeutics committee along with the Quality and Safety group will monitor the progress of the medication management audit
An external company is being engaged to update the medication policy suite. This update would incorporate observations and recommendations from the recent audit to ensure comprehensive policy enhancement
Following the inspection feedback, High Risk Medication Posters are displayed in the Nursing Station
The medication fridge which was not functioning within the recommended temperature range was replaced with a new one on the day of inspection
The report also highlighted Infection, Prevention and Control (IPC) as an area for improvement. Hospital management is committed to improving mandatory training compliance across all staff categories, particularly in hand hygiene and standard and transmission-based precautions.
Since the inspection took place, Staff Training Mandatory training attendance for hand hygiene has shown marked improvement, now standing at 100% for clinical staff.
100% of nursing staff are compliant with Medication Management Training and efforts are ongoing to achieve and maintain the HSE target of 90%.