HEI is a key component of Healthcare Improvement Scotland, a health body that provides evidence, improvement support and scrutiny to help improve the quality of healthcare provided by the NHS and independent healthcare providers in Scotland.

The Healthcare Environment Inspectorate (HEI), which is part of Healthcare Improvement Scotland, today (Wednesday) published its report relating to an unannounced inspection visit to Forth Valley Royal Hospital on Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 February 2015.

HEI has been set up to help reduce healthcare associated infection risk to patients through a rigorous inspection framework. The HEI inspection team examined NHS Forth Valley’s self-assessment information and then inspected the hospital to validate this information, meet patients and staff, and visit wards and departments to assess how clean the hospital was and if it was meeting national standards.

The findings from this visit cover two requirements and one recommendation which NHS Forth Valley are fully expected to address.

The full HEI inspection report is available to view at Healthcare Improvement Scotland.

Speaking of the report, Jacqui Macrae, Head of Quality and Care said “Our inspection found evidence that Forth Valley Royal Hospital is taking a proactive approach to infection control which is helping to create a healthcare environment which minimises the risk of infection to patients, staff and visitors. We found infection prevention and control appeared high in people’s minds and was well integrated at ward level. We saw evidence that a comprehensive range of infection control audit systems are in place, and found a good standard of environmental and patient equipment cleanliness throughout the wards and departments inspected. However, improvements must be made to ensure expressed breast milk is stored appropriately and to ensure staff comply with national guidance about the management of pseudomonas aeruginosa. This inspection resulted in two requirements and one recommendation which NHS Forth Valley must address as a matter of priority. We will follow-up these concerns at future inspections.”