Cystic fibrosis patients at high risk of infection

CYSTIC fibrosis patients are being put at a high risk of infection because they are sharing rooms and facilities with other patients at St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin, according to the Cystic Fibrosis Association.

It said the hospital is “bursting at the seams” with about 30 CF patients admitted in recent days.

These patients should be in isolation units because their condition carries an increased risk of infections, including MRSA and respiratory infections can cause them particular damage.

But the high number of patients being treated in the hospital and the shortage of space means they are sharing rooms with other patients.

“The issue is they are in with other patients. They share common toilets and are treated by nurses who are not trained to deal with CF patients,” said the association’s chief executive, Mr Godfrey Fletcher.

“Cystic Fibrosis patients are inappropriately interdispersed with other respiratory patients and throughout various wards all over the hospital,” he said.

He said the situation in the hospital has been inadequate for a long time and the situation gets particularly bad from this time of year until April.

Mr Fletcher said it is “extremely critical” that planning is granted for new facility at St Vincent’s Hospital, which will include a dedicated isolation ward for CF patients.

The application has been submitted by the hospital and is being processed.

It would take two years to build once approved and another number of months before it is fully staffed and equipped.

However, Mr Fletcher said starting the work will have an important psychological effect on people with the disease, who have had to deal with inadequate facilities at what is supposed to be the national CF centre.

Ireland has the highest rate of CF in the world. About one out of every 1,300 children born here has CF, compared with about one in every 2,000 in western Europe and one in every 10,000 elsewhere.

A report published last month said screening newborns for CF would allow better treatment and could increase life expectancy for sufferers.

Ireland is one of the few European countries which has not implemented newborn screening in the past decade. It has been used in the north for the last 25 years.