Kilkenny hospital performs strongly in new healthcare report

UPMC Aut Even Hospital avoided any areas of non-compliance along with three fully compliant ratings in a new HIQA report released last week.

The announced inspections that took place on April 29 and 30 at the hospital on the Freshford Road were focused on the areas of infection prevention and control, medication safety, deteriorating patients and transitions of care across eleven national standards.

In addition to the three ratings of compliant, Aut Even received eight scores of substantial compliance all without any serious non-compliance.

Patients of the facility, which contains 71 inpatient beds and 24 day case beds, spoke highly of the quality of care given with comments including they “would not have anything bad to say” and that they “found the place very good".

Inspectors were particularly impressed with the hospital’s performance around quality and safety with two of the compliant ratings coming from categories relating to this.

One of these was dignity, privacy and autonomy being respected and promoted with the report noting that staff were aware of these requirements and all single and multi-occupancy rooms visited by the inspectors had en-suite bathrooms. 

The environment in the inpatient ward was conducive to the delivery of care that respected patients dignity and privacy curtains were used when care was being provided in shared rooms.

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Aut Even was also fully compliant in promoting a culture of consideration and respect with its staff observed to have a commitment to person-centered care with call bells being answered promptly.

This was supported by statements from patients who told inspectors that staff were “very approachable”, that there was a “lovely banter” and a “friendly atmosphere” on the ward.

Though there were no severe problems in the hospital, the eight areas of substantial compliance included some room for improvement. 

This included issues with the physical environment with the inspection noting that not all hand sinks on the medical ward conformed to national requirements, that there was lack of accessible bathrooms and the fact that there was only one patient lift to the third floor which posed a risk in the event of its failure during an emergency transfer.

In its concluding remarks, the report outlined that Aut Even demonstrated effective oversight in quality and safety for patients but with some actions still required to demonstrate full compliance.

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