FG call for protection of hospital informers

FINE GAEL has called for a Whistleblowers Act to protect health workers who air concerns about hospital infection controls after figures showed 8,000 patients tested positive for superbugs in 2004.

The party’s health spokesman Dr Liam Twomey also called for the introduction of a mandatory uniform system for hospitals to detect and report infectious diseases and for the establishment of an infection control inspectorate to carry out unannounced hygiene and infection controls.

Dr Twomey’s comments are in the wake of revelations that approximately 8,000 patients in more than 30 hospitals were infected by MRSA and other potentially fatal superbugs last year.