Sadly, in our experience, yes, very common. Basic hygiene and infection control precautions are very sadly lacking in hospital wards. Staff seem to have been trained to distraction in preventing blood related infections, i.e. they fall over backwards to quickly clean up blood, but have no similar urgency for clear fluids, vomit, urine, spittal, etc. There is also a very blase attitude towards changing gloves, washing hands, etc between patients.
When FIL was in hospital (several long visits over a number of years), it was a constant stream of hospital acquired infections requiring anti-biotic drips - just as one ended, he'd get another and then be on a drip for another 5 days and so it went on. It continually delayed the operations he was admitted for. In the worst case, he went in for a cancer related operation and didn't actually get the operation for six months - all the while languishing in a bed on a ward, getting one infection after another.
My DH has just been in hospital for a serious leg operation related to his cancer. On the advice of his haematologist, he got a private side-room to help avoid infections due to him being immuno-compromised due to being on chemotherapy. Despite there being the usual "infection control" signs on the door, and a "cleaning station" outside with gloves, aprons, hand wash, masks, etc., he said not a single nurse stopped to change gloves or wash hands or put a mask on, etc upon entering his room. Surprisingly, he said that it was mostly the doctors and the HCAs who'd make an effort upon entering - not all of them and not every time, but more often than not, they'd at least wash their hands, some HCAs sometimes changed their aprons (presumably after treating another patient) and some doctors put on masks after washing their hands! He wasn't so bothered about those who came in and went without getting too close to him but he got to the stage of asking those nurses who were, say, changing his dressings, to change their gloves and wear a mask - with the inevitable huffing and puffing and eye-rolling!
If the staff can't be bothered taking basic precautions for a cancer patient in an infection control side room, heaven knows how bad they are with "normal" patients on normal wards!