Hospitals in Ireland are cleaner than those in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, a survey revealed today. However, Fine Gael questioned the accuracy of the results.
The study by the UK- and Ireland-based Hospital Infection Society (HIS) of more than 75,000 beds showed fewer than 5 per cent of patients in acute hospitals in Ireland suffered potentially life-threatening infections while being treated.
The average across the UK and Ireland was 7.6 per cent. Inspectors checked for killer diseases such as the MRSA superbug, pneumonia and blood poisoning in the survey.
Between February and May 2006, infection control officers in the UK and Ireland surveyed 75,763 beds and found 7.6 per cent of adult patients in acute hospitals to have a healthcare-associated infection.
In Ireland the overall figure was 4.9 per cent. Overall, 0.5 per cent of patients surveyed had an infection where the MRSA superbug was considered the causative organism.
Dr Kevin Kelleher, assistant national director of population health with the HSE, said while the results were good for the country more could be done.
"These results give a detailed picture of hospital associated infection in Ireland and allow some comparison with similar institutions in the UK," he said.
"The data will also allow us to focus our efforts to reduce healthcare-associated Infections and monitor the impact of our interventions."
Fine Gael Health spokesman Dr Liam Twomey said that the HSE could take little comfort from the survey because, he said, the inadequate numbers of infection control staff in Ireland impedes the collection of accurate data on Irish hospitals.
"The HSE itself acknowledges the shortage of personnel involved in infection control currently. This indicates that the data regarding hospital-acquired infections may not be accurate," he said.
"The difficulty in getting accurate data on MRSA blood infections has been highlighted in the past so a healthy does of scepticism must be kept in mind when you consider that the HIS survey would have been based on data received from Irish hospitals."