Maintain pressure on reforms to protect NHS'Widespread lack of clarity' over C diff guidance
C diff guidance documents have left NHS boards confused and unsure how to apply the information.
NHS Quality Improvement Scotland found there was a ‘lack of clarity’ about the paperwork on the potentially deadly hospital bug in three health boards they studied.
The report said: ‘We found widespread lack of clarity at all levels within the organisation, from ward to board, around the status, uses and application for the large number of documents, tools and guidance produced at national level.’
It said that while the documents were essential and contained the right actions on how to tackle C diff, NHS Grampian, NHS Highland and NHS Orkney were all confused by the advice.
The report said: ‘Issuing guidance is only part of improving practice, and subsequent implementation needs to be supported and monitored.
‘Our visits highlighted confusion and lack of implementation around even some relatively basic components within the national approach.’
The quality watchdog warned that the large volume and complexity of the information is responsible for the confusion, and attention needs to be paid to ensure that documents are suitable for giving guidance on preventing infections.
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Readers' comments (1)
Pat Huxtable | 21-Jul-2009 11:53 pm
Reading the above article fair sends my blood pressure up. I've recently had to retire from nursing early but I still trawl through the NT Website. I'm appalled and frustrated at the never ending run of articles which only prove that there is far too much dogma/paper work/far too many agencies/people involved in telling nurses what and how and when they should be doing every single solitary procedure going! If nurses spent their entire time reading through all these policies and protocols, then patients would never be attended to, not that they appear to get a lot of attention any way! I am so saddened at what the nursing profession has become, it is drowning in a sea of overkill advice/guidelines/ information/policies and protocols and the people supposedly managing all of the afore mentionedare too far into the mire of confusion to be able to see this. I absolutely despair that there doesn't seem to be anyone left saying ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, WE'VE GONE TOO FAR!
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