Sisters lead cleaner wards effort

Ministers believe nurses are best placed to improve cleanliness

Plans to make Welsh hospitals cleaner, improve patients' food and give nurses more power on wards are being announced by the assembly government.

Health Minister Edwina Hart said ward sisters would gain the authority to deal with hospital's cleanliness, nutrition and patients' privacy.

"Rapid response" cleaning teams are planned to tackle infection outbreaks such as MRSA and C.difficile.

Tories and Lib Dems welcomed the plans but said they were "long overdue".

Under the proposals ward sisters will decide what is cleaned and when, with regular domestic staff being allocated to specific parts of the hospital.

Senior nurses will decide on visiting hours and whether flowers are allowed on their wards.

Cleaners will also have to reach new training standards.

A recent BBC Wales investigation showed some hospital staff only received ten minutes of training before working on the wards.

These new measures will strengthen our efforts to tackle infections Edwina Hart, Health Minister> Listen to the minister explain the proposals on BBC Good Morning Wales

A 'rapid response cleaning team' is an attempt to reassure people hospitals are clean after infection outbreaks.

Ms Hart said the Welsh Assembly Government was already "working hard" to make hospitals cleaner.

"The overall infection rate in Wales is lower than that in England and Scotland, and our strategy has been welcomed by the Wales Audit Office," she said.

"However, we are not complacent which is why I am accepting the recommendations of the today's report.

"These new measures will strengthen our efforts to tackle infections," she added.

'Change in culture'

The proposals were suggested in a report by a working group made up of nurses, midwives and other key health staff.

Conservative health spokesman Jonathan Morgan said his party had "long called for nurses to be given more power over how wards are run and kept clean".

"The assembly government has been repeatedly warned that standards of cleanliness in Welsh hospitals do not meet acceptable levels," he said.

Liberal Democrat Jenny Randerson hoped the strategy "could be the beginning of a change in culture in the Welsh NHS".

She said: "Putting ward sisters back in charge of the ward, and ensuring that everyone recognises this, will not only mean better cleanliness but will hopefully ensure a range of improvements to the patient experience."

'Excessive costs'

Meanwhile, doctors' leaders have called for the ban on using mobile phones in hospitals to be lifted across Wales.

It follows the decision by North East Wales NHS Trust to allow the phones to be used in certain areas by patients and visitors, under strict conditions.

The British Medical Association's (BMA) secretary in Wales said patients were currently spending unreasonable amounts of money on making and receiving calls.

Dr Richard Lewis said he supported "a removal of the current restrictions, provided they are made in the best interests of patient safety, privacy and helps remove the burden of excessive costs."

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