New London Sub-Acute: Infection Control Failures - CT
That observation, recorded by federal inspectors at New London Sub-Acute and Nursing on March 17, 2025, at 10:11 in the morning, was one of several hand hygiene failures documented during a March inspection of the 90 Clark Lane facility.
When inspectors spoke with the nursing assistant, identified in records as NA #2, five minutes after watching her, she said she knew the facility's policy was no gloves in the hallway, but offered that hers were clean. She could not explain the facility's policy on hand hygiene when removing and reapplying gloves. She said she was new, still orienting, and could not remember whether she had received infection control training.
Her new hire orientation packet said she had.
A second nursing assistant, NA #3, was observed during wound care. He did not perform hand hygiene before putting on a gown and gloves. When inspectors asked him about it afterward, he acknowledged he should have. He said it was not facility policy to skip that step, and that he always does hand hygiene before applying gloves and after removing them. The observation told a different story. He did remove his gloves and use the alcohol-based hand rub on the wall once the lapse was raised, but the hand hygiene that should have come first, before touching the gown and gloves, had not happened.
The facility's own hand hygiene policy, dated April 2017, describes hand hygiene as the primary means of preventing the spread of infections. It calls for alcohol-based hand rub before and after direct care, before handling clean or soiled dressings, after removing gloves, and as a final step after removing and disposing of all protective equipment. The non-sterile dressing policy, updated in June 2023, specifically requires hand sanitizing prior to the procedure and between glove changes. The enhanced barrier protection policy, updated in August 2023, requires gown and gloves for high-contact care activities involving residents with wounds, indwelling medical devices, or known or suspected multidrug-resistant organism colonization.
Inspectors also reviewed the facility's MDRO policy, which directs that when a resident tests positive for a multidrug-resistant organism, precautions are to begin as soon as the facility is notified of the result.
The deficiency was cited at a level of minimal harm or potential for actual harm, with few residents affected. That classification reflects the lowest tier of documented injury in the federal inspection framework, but the category does not mean nothing was at risk. Hand hygiene failures during wound care and glove use are among the most direct routes for transmitting infection between residents, particularly in a facility caring for people with open wounds or compromised immune systems.
What the inspection captured was not a single lapse on a bad day. It was two separate staff members, observed independently, on the same morning, each skipping steps that their own training records said they had been taught. One didn't know what the policy required. The other knew and still didn't follow it.
The nursing assistant who reapplied the used glove after drinking remains unnamed in the public record, as does the nursing assistant who skipped hand hygiene before gowning for wound care. What the record does show is that when each was asked about it, neither had a clean explanation, and the facility's written policies offered no cover.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for New London Sub-acute and Nursing from 2025-03-27 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Additional Resources
Data source: This article is based on inspection data downloaded directly from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) via Medicare.gov. CMS releases inspection reports in bulk; we publish the findings as documented by state surveyors in the official Form CMS-2567 Statement of Deficiencies.
Plan of correction: The CMS report we receive does not include the facility's plan of correction. Facilities submit plans of correction separately to state survey agencies and those responses may not be reflected in CMS data at the time of publication. The absence of a plan of correction in our data does not mean one was not filed. Readers who want information about corrective steps taken are encouraged to contact the facility directly or their state survey agency.
Corrections may have occurred: Inspection reports reflect conditions observed on the date of the survey. Facilities may have implemented corrections, staffing changes, additional training, or other remediation since the report was issued. We report what CMS provides and encourage readers to seek current information from the facility.
Editorial process: Inspection findings are extracted from CMS source documents and synthesized using AI, reviewed for factual accuracy against the original report by our editorial team.
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Last verified: November 2, 2026 · Our methodology
NEW LONDON SUB-ACUTE AND NURSING in WATERFORD, CT was cited for violations during a health inspection on March 27, 2025.
She could not explain the facility's policy on hand hygiene when removing and reapplying gloves.
Health inspections identify deficiencies that facilities must correct. Violations range from minor documentation issues to serious safety concerns. Review the full report below for specific details and facility response.