Dirty hospital told to clean up its act

A major London hospital has been issued with an official warning over standards of hygiene.

Inspectors who swooped on the new Princess Royal University Hospital found bloodstained beds, dirty commodes marked "clean", and thick layers of dust in key wards.

They also discovered poorly maintained buildings and a lack of routine cleaning. Bromley Hospitals NHS trust, which runs the site, has been ordered to take action.

The Princess Royal in Orpington is a £155 million private-finance project that opened less than five years ago. Debts from the scheme have helped push the trust into bankruptcy, and it is on a government hitlist of financially failing organisations.

Today Bromley became the second trust in the country to get a hygiene improvement notice from the Healthcare Commission, after putting patients at risk of MRSA and Clostridium difficile. An 11-point hygiene code was introduced to all hospitals in October 2006 to halt the spread of bugs MRSA and C.diff.

During last month's inspection, the commission found staff at the 525-bed Princess Royal were breaking two key rules. Equipment used for surgery was "poorly" decontaminated. Patients complained about cleanliness and pointed out bloodstains on a bedrail and blood splashes on the wall.

Anna Walker, Chief Executive of the commission, said: "There is serious public concern about infections in hospitals. We undertook unannounced visits to this trust. We found that cleanliness was not good enough and equipment decontamination processes needed improving. This is not acceptable to patients."

A supporting column was also badly maintained and had exposed metal poking through plaster.

The report will raise fresh fears about Labour's private finance initiative policy.

PFI hospitals are constructed with private money and the NHS leases the building from the developer, typically on a 30-year contract. Bromley trust was championed after signing one of the biggest PFIs in the country, but now faces £99 million debts.

The Evening Standard has reported how bosses must save £23 million by April to stay afloat.

Latest figures show at least 43 patients aged over 65 contracted C.diff at the Bromley trust between July and September. This compared with 19 at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich and 11 at Lewisham.

Inspectors ordered the Bromley trust, which also runs Orpington and Beckenham hospitals, to improve by next month. Mrs Walker said: "We have been back to the trust. I am reassured it has implemented our requirements on decontamination. Cleanliness levels need to be improved. This is a management issue."

The first hospital trust to be given a hygiene improvement notice was Barnet and Chase Farm, in July.