A RECENT surprise inspection of the critical care unit (CCU) at the SWAH found no formal areas for improvement.

The Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority’s (RQIA) carried out the unannounced inspection at the Enniskillen hospital in March this year.

The inspection focused on five key themes – infection prevention control and environmental safety; procedure for obtaining blood cultures, enteral feeding; local governance systems and processes and the management of patient linen.

The report on this inspection, published last week, found the CCU to be “calm, spacious and in excellent decorative order with environmental cleanliness maintained to a high standard.”

It stated there were “robust measures in place to ensure staff had the appropriate training and competency assessment when taking blood cultures” and “staff demonstrated good knowledge on when and how blood cultures should be taken.”

Other areas where the staff showed good knowledge included with enteral feeding systems and infection prevention control procedures. The report also noted “there was a culture of quality improvement” and pointed to examples of this.

Western Trust deputy medical director, Prof Ronan O’Hare, said the SWAH team was “extremely pleased with the positive findings” and paid tribute to the staff.

“The feedback is very complementary to our staff and the environment, providing a high quality and safe standard of care to our patients in the SWAH ICU,” he said.

“This excellent report could not been achieved without the commitment and dedication of all our Clinical and Nursing staff in ICU, supported by our AHPs, infection prevention and control, support and estate colleagues.

“This RQIA report is something we are very proud of.”

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