A hospital in the Western Isles has been ordered to improve its cleanliness after inspectors found unwashed and stained mattresses.
Uist and Barra Hospital was recently subject to an unannounced visit by the Healthcare Environment Inspectorate (HEI).
Inspectors praised staff hygiene practices – but have made a series of recommendations mainly relating to the building and other equipment.
The most pressing recommendation for the Balivanich facility was to improve the cleaning of mattresses and chairs to prevent cross-infection.
It was after inspectors found staining on the inside cover and foam inserts .
Meanwhile inspectors also found a variety of “damaged, chipped, torn or rusty” equipment such as bed frames, lockers and chairs as well as doors and window frames.
One badly-damaged bathroom door was reported as being in need of repair two years ago.
The inspectors, however, praised the standard of hand hygiene among staff, as well as the standard of domestic cleaning which was described as “very good”.
Claire Sweeney, interim director of quality assurance for Healthcare Improvement Scotland, said: “During the inspection of Uist and Barra Hospital, we saw staff using good hand hygiene practices while carrying out their duties and the standard of domestic cleaning was good.
“However, we identified issues for improvement. NHS Western Isles must ensure patient equipment can be cleaned effectively to reduce the risk of infection and must put an effective process in place to manage maintenance issues.
“The NHS board has drawn up an action plan to address these issues. We will continue to monitor the cleanliness of Uist and Barra Hospital at future inspections.”
A spokeswoman for the health board said: “Whilst the report highlighted what the staff were doing well, specifically the two areas of compliance with hand hygiene, and the standard of domestic cleaning, which was found to be very good, the inspection also found a number of mattresses and patient chairs that had staining and leakage on the inside cover and foam inserts, which is not acceptable.
“At the time of the inspectors visit, new beds were on order for Uist and Barra Hospital and action has been taken to ensure full compliance with our routine cleaning and inspection schedules.
“The care and maintenance of our equipment and the patient environment is a priority and the inspection found that our current electronically based system for logging and delivering improvements in these areas was not working effectively, action has been taken to ensure that a robust reporting and escalation procedure for managing estates and maintenance issues is in place.”