PARENTS called for greater openness about superbugs in maternity hospitals as Minister for Health Mary Harney admitted full details about infection rates would not be available any time soon.

PEOPLE go to hospital hoping to be cured — not to be put at risk of infection from life-threatening bugs like MRSA which thrive in dirty environments.

DOCTORS had adopted a "siege mentality" following recent medical controversies and needed to move away from that mind-set, the head of the Health Service Executive, Professor Brendan Drumm insisted yesterday.

A national ’hygiene tzar’ is needed to clean up hospitals and stop patients picking up infections like MRSA, an Oireachtas Committee heard today.

ALMOST half of Irish hospitals are without key personnel central to the detection of the potentially fatal MRSA superbug.

GUIDELINES that emphasise basic hand hygiene to stop the spread of the hospital superbug MRSA have been welcomed by lobby group Patient Focus.

CHILDREN eligible for orthodontic treatment are being denied treatment in many areas and parents are being forced to go into debt to send them to the North for treatment, it was claimed yesterday.

UNDERSPENDING health board bosses were accused yesterday of passing the blame on to the Department of Health for their failure to manage finances properly.

Two hospitals in the Western Health Board area are confident they’re managing to contain an outbreak of "Winter Vomiting Disease".