Patients’ group calls for superbug guidelines to be mandatory
Figures published by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) show that around 40 patients are being diagnosed every week with C diff, but the scale of the problem is expected to grow as two health regions have yet to provide figures to the state’s public health watchdog.
The HPSC was unable to say if any of the 101 patients diagnosed with the superbug in recent weeks died directly as a result of contracting the disease.
C diff only became a notifiable disease earlier this month, a move that legally obliges hospitals to report all laboratory-confirmed cases to the HPSC.
Patient Focus member Mary Tierney said new HPSC guidelines on prevention and control of C diff should be mandatory as hospitals could not be trusted to maintain basic housekeeping standards.
“The law of the jungle has been allowed to prevail in our hospitals, with the survival of the fittest and patients too afraid to speak out,” she said.
C diff infection was linked to 16 deaths at St Colmcille’s Hospital in Dublin and 15 deaths at Ennis Hospital last year.
“Ennis Hospital have said they managed to clear the disease. If they were able to do it, why can’t other hospitals do the same. It’s not rocket science,” said Ms Tierney.
“This infection would not be tolerated in a hotel or restaurant so why should we accept it in our hospitals?” she asked.
“There is no excuse for what has happened. The health authority has failed in its duty of care to its patients.”
Ms Tierney, a survivor of a hospital-acquired infection, said C diff had become a problem because hospitals had fallen down in basic housekeeping.
“I am from a farming background and my father would not milk the cows without washing his hands,” she said.
The HPSC has warned that C diff has a high epidemic potential, with 11 outbreaks of the disease between 2004 and 2007. Seven outbreaks were in acute hospitals and four in residential institutions.
The HPSC has called for ring-fenced funding to be provided by the Department of Health and the Health Service Executive to help hospitals and nursing homes control and prevent the disease.
HPSC consultant microbiologist Dr Fidelma Fitzpatrick, who played a leading role in drawing up the guidelines on the surveillance, diagnosis and management of C diff, said they would make a real difference. “C diff can be a serious and potentially fatal infection and is the single biggest cause of diarrhoea in patients who have had antibiotic therapy,” she said.
