An audit of the cleanliness of medical instruments used in hospitals across the State has been ordered by the Health Service Executive (HSE).
Dr Mary Hynes, assistant director in the HSE's national hospitals office, said the audit was being conducted by an outside agency on behalf of the HSE and would be completed in October.
It will examine endoscopes and other reusable medical devices to ensure they are cleaned sufficiently and decontaminated after each patient in order to prevent the possibility of cross-infection.
"We had some reports all was not well in this area," she said.
Dr Hynes gave details of the audit at an international conference on patient safety in Dublin yesterday, which was attended by delegates from 27 countries.
She said it was very important medical instruments were cleaned, disinfected and sterilised. The HSE was developing standards for Irish hospitals and community health centres in this regard.
"The first thing you have to do then is to try and see where are we at in relation to the standards, so we are carrying out a review . . . I think we probably, by the end of October, will have that review completed. The nurses strike delayed it a bit," said Dr Hynes.
"It might end up being very like the first hygiene audit [ where results were mainly poor] but if you don't know where you are you can't improve it," she added.
Dr Hynes said the HSE was developing a standard medical chart for doctors and nurses to take patient notes. Standards for record-keeping and record-management were also being devised to be put in place next year.