Independent TD Mattie McGrath has called on the Minister for Health, Simon Harris, to clarify what measures he is taking to address the most recent survey findings on the number of patients affected by Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI). Deputy McGrath was speaking after the HSE’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) confirmed the accuracy of headline data published by European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The ECDC data had estimated that on any day in 2018, there were 670 inpatients in Irish hospitals with a Hospital Acquired Infection, translating to almost 30,000 patients in Ireland affected by HAI annually:
These findings are extremely stark in terms of the implications for patients entering and residing in our hospital system.
The HSPC have found that by ownership, the HAI prevalence in public hospitals operated by the HSE was slightly higher than that of private hospitals (6.2% versus 5.8%).
What is also extremely worrying is the fact that while Ireland’s Hospital Acquired Infection rates prevalence equalled that of Northern Ireland (6.1%), it was higher than that of Scotland (4.5%) and participating EU countries overall (5.5%).
This one again points to the fact that we have a Minister, a Health Service Executive and a government that are pumping billions of euros into a hospital system that is still struggling to effectively combat the acquired infection rate.
Will the Minister have to answer for this failure? Of course he will not and that is the appalling political reality we find ourselves in at the present time,” concluded Deputy McGrath.
ENDS
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