Hiqa report highlights infection prevention concerns at wexford general during pandemic

A report on the infection prevention control practices at Wexford General Hospital has found there were specific risks during the pandemic late last year.

The Health Information and Quality Authority made an unannounced visit to the hospital on November 26th to inspect how staff were working to prevent the spread of Covid 19. The findings show that at that time, patients were not assessed by a clinical decision maker when arriving at the Emergency Department and there was a lack of separation between COVID positive and Covid negative patients. The report also states there was crossover of staff caring for patients with and without COVID-19 on a regular basis. HIQA have acknowledged that Wexford General was experiencing infrastructural challenges that made it difficult to manage two pathways to Covid and non Covid wards and once identified, the hospital had introduced a number of measures to mitigate potential threats posed by COVID-19. In a statement this afternoon, the Ireland East Hospital Group says Wexford General Hospital welcomes the publication of HIQA’s Report and "resource deficiencies experienced by the infection prevention and control team continue to be addressed at hospital and group level."