Hospital unit first built to resist superbug threat

ALMOST 10 years after a strategy was launched to deal with the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance in Ireland, Ennis General Hospital is set to become Ireland’s first fully SARI compliant facility for inpatient accommodation.

Antimicrobial consumption in hospitals has been a key factor in the emergence of antimicrobial-resistant pathogens or so-called “superbugs” such as MRSA and C-difficile. Use of certain broad spectrum antibiotic classes has been blamed for the emergence of such pathogens.

In 2001, the Minister for Health and Children, Micheál Martin, launched a Strategy for the Control of Antimicrobial Resistance in Ireland (SARI) in which significant emphasis was placed on the importance of careful and appropriate antibiotic use, so-called “antimicrobial stewardship”. In 2003, a working group produced recommendations on stewardship in Irish hospitals.