Hospital wards deep clean after bug outbreaks

Extra training will be given to 50 ward managers in Shrewsbury and Telford

A hospital trust is carrying out a complete deep clean of its wards to get on top of bug outbreaks.

A report to the board of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust said it had recently seen two strains of norovirus and a higher than expected occurrence of diarrhoea-inducing bug clostridium difficile.

The hospitals in the two towns have also seen a number of the pressure ulcers on patients who are not turned in bed as often as they should be.

Paula Gardner, the trust's Chief Nursing Officer, said bay cleaning was taking place "whenever we can".

At Thursday's board meeting she was asked what was happening to ensure the "rigour of ward managers."

Ms Gardner said there had recently been an "element of all hands to the pumps" but that ward managers had to take "24/7 responsibility and accountability".

"We are holding them to account on the fundamentals of care," she said.

Separately, the hospital trust has also set up a leadership programme to help its 50 ward managers.

It will be led by Professor Brian Dolan, a teacher of ward leadership and management and part this training would be to teach ward managers how to take decisions, the board heard.

Andrew Morgan, the chair in common at SaTH and Shropcom, said: "It is coming back to people understanding what's your job and what support you can get."

But the trust said this programme was not related to the bug outbreaks and should not be viewed as it bringing in an expert to sort out the problem.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.