Battle against hospital superbugs to be stepped up

MORE than half of the positions required to tackle the hospital superbug problem will be advertised shortly as part of a €15 million, three-year strategy, the Health Service Executive (HSE) said yesterday.

A Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) report published last month criticised the slow progress in tackling hospital-acquired infections, particularly methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and called for more funding.

It said Ireland was one of the few countries in Europe without a national programme for the surveillance of healthcare-linked infections.