Hospital stops providing alcohol hand gel

Inspectors have found that a Scottish hospital has not provided alcohol hand gel at every bedside over concerns children and adults would consume it.

The Healthcare Environment Inspectorate found that the Forth Valley Royal Hospital needed improvement in two areas: by ensuring all equipment used on several patients is “cleaned effectively” and that alcohol gel aimed at reducing infections are provided “at or near every bed”.

Forth Valley Royal Hospital’s hand hygiene policy was highlighted in the report released this week and it noted that alcohol hand gel was provided at the entrance to all wards, rooms and sinks, but was not available at every bed space “because of the risk of ingestion by children and some adults”.

Susan Brimelow, chief inspector, said “We are assured that NHS Forth Valley is making good progress against standards to protect patients, staff and visitors from the risks of acquiring a healthcare associated infection.

“The wards and departments inspected were clean and there is ongoing work to improve the management of patients with severe infection, particularly blood stream infections. However we also identified areas for improvement including a need to increase the availability of alcohol hand gel in clinical areas.”

Forth Valley Royal was opened in Larbert in 2010.

This report comes on the back of a story from the US where teenagers are reportedly drinking hand sanitisers in order to get drunk.