Hospitals given 12 months to enforce hygiene standards
The 12 standards, published yesterday by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), will apply to all health and social care services, including GP and dental surgeries.
Compliance with the standards will eventually become a licensing requirement for all hospitals when proposed legislation arising from the Commission on Patient Safety and Quality Assurance comes into force.
HIQA will target acute hospitals first and will work with the Health Service Executive (HSE) on how best to monitor GP surgeries.
Its director of healthcare quality, Jon Billings, said spot checks for GP surgeries were a possibility.
The standards cover issues such as governance and management; hand hygiene; medical device-related infections; antibiotic resistance; staffing; the physical environment and disease control.
Mr Billings said the standards were designed to promote an environment that maximises patient safety, quality and accountability.
“The majority of the standards are straightforward to implement, with the appropriate culture, changes in behaviour, effective planning, management and leadership,” he said.
The authority said private health insurers should also consider whether the national standards should be a factor in determining funding decisions. “At the moment the authority does not have a statutory remit in the private sector but these standards are based on international evidence and best practice and if insurers wish to take them into account in any discussions they have with providers then we will encourage that,” he said.
Health facilities now have six months to develop implementation plans.
Mr Billings said progress had already been made in reducing healthcare associated infections and believed the standards would ensure a sustainable improvement across the health sector. More than 100 submissions were made by organisations and individuals on the development of the standards.
HIQA would make announced and unannounced visits to facilities once their inspection regime starts.
Mr Billings said HIQA will publish results of their monitoring and expects the HSE and other healthcare providers to publish the results of their own activities.
