UK: Care Quality Commission finds blood spattered walls and filthy ambulances

Quarter of NHS trusts failing hygiene tests
Randeep Ramesh
Tuesday 16 March 2010

A quarter of health trusts failed to meet standards over hospital infections while five were warned over blood-spattered walls and mouldy instruments under a toughened regulatory regime, the Guardian has learned.

Of particular concern was the state of ambulances, which were inspected for the first time. Investigators found dirty forceps stored in some vehicles as well as bloodstains.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) used its sweeping powers last year to assess how well NHS trusts were coping with hospital infections – which affect 300,000 patients a year. the rest

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