The coronary care unit in Bristol’s Princess Royal hospital’s new £60million Heart Institute has been closed for six weeks due to an infestation of flies. The specialist ward will hopefully reopen in early October.
Experts have identified that the ward may have been susceptible due to a blocked drain and are continuing to investigate the problem. This is terrible news for patients, with the facility scheduled to treat more than 15,000 people annually, carrying out five operations daily.
According to the boss of the Institute, Dr Peter Wilde, there was no way that the incident could have been predicted. In a care unit such as this keeping the area free from infection is key to making sure that patients recover with the minimum of complications.
One of the ways in which organisations, be they part of the NHS or businesses, can reduce the risks of incidents is by conducting risk assessments. These enable the party to identify potential consequences of taking a particular action and help to minimise the chance of accidents occurring as a result.
Dr Wilde indicated that the Institute acted as swiftly as possible to deal with the problem, which surfaced in early August, stating that “The decision was taken to move four patients from the CCU to a nearby ward as a result of a few flies buzzing around.”
In this case it does seem like the hospital has taken the necessary precautions to minimise the impact of this event and prevent any further incidents, greatly reducing the possibility of any claims of medical negligence being made against the NHS.
