It seems that Wollongong hospital is suffering a totally unacceptable breakdown in it's management function.
Confusion exists as to who is responsible for cleaning beds previously occupied by a patient suffering from Golden Staph - or one of several other similar deadly infections resistant to antibiotics.
Nurses and cleaning staff both emphatically claim that cleaning such beds is not their responsibility. As a result, there have been instances where uncleaned beds have been put into service - putting patients at risk of death.
Cleaning a bed after a patient infected with Golden Staph is not a small matter. The requirement is for the bed to be dismantled entirely and all metal parts thoroughly cleaned. This would be both time consuming and requiring skill.
It would seem to be a waste of a skilled nurse's time - and we are desperately short of nurses - for this function to be included in the list of nursing duties. It is a cleaning function, and the hospital should have cleaners specially trained to carry out this work.
What is absolutely disgraceful is that management has allowed this dispute to reach this stage. The function of management is to set parameters of responsibility and ensure that they are understood.
The bed cleaning responsibility should have been established long ago - and the fact that patients have been placed in contaminated beds because hospital management has not resolved the issue is little short of criminal neglect.
If a patient contracts a disease and dies because neither nurses or cleaners are disinfecting beds - then the blame can clearly be sheeted home to those who are paid to make these decisions.
An appearance before a court would not be out of the question !
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