A DAMNING report on a Glasgow hospital found hygiene below standard, despite bosses having been warned about the problems two months earlier.

Victoria Infirmary has now been given one month to sort out the problems in six areas in a ward for the elderly.

An unannounced inspection found dirty equipment, needles protruding from bins, soiled incontinence pads not disposed of correctly and staff tying up clinical waste without wearing gloves.

Dirty bed frames, bed control panels and intravenous drip stands were also found in the hospital's elderly assessment Ward South 2.

Patient hoists on the ward were "contaminated and dusty" and a chair weighing scale was unclean. Across all wards, eight out of 17 commodes inspected were not clean.

The hospital had been told to improve infection control after an audit in May, which had been brought forward by six months due to issues in a previous probe and followed two unrelated cases of Clostridium difficile (C.diff).

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said it would immediately tackle the issues the report raised.

The Healthcare Environment Inspectorate inspection in July, resulted in a report that said: "We were not assured that a managed environment could be consistently demonstrated to minimise the risk of infection."

Rory Farrelly, the health board's acute director of nursing said: "We have already taken steps to ensure that patient equipment is clean."

The Royal College of Nursing warned about complacency over superbug infection. Its associate director Norman Provan warned of a Scottish Government plan "to cut funding for infection control by £10million next year".

caroline.wilson@ eveningtimes.co.uk