HIQA calls for more resources to monitor infections
Inspectors from the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) stopped checking hospital hygiene standards nationally about a year and a half ago because it is overstretched.
HIQA’s National Infection Prevention and Control Standards, published in May 2009, are currently with the Minister for Health, Dr James Reilly, who has yet to approve them.
The authority wrote to the Department of Health seeking additional resources to monitor compliance with the new standards as well as the National Standards for Safer Better Healthcare.
A spokesperson for HIQA confirmed yesterday that implementation of the standards would depend on the authority having the necessary resources.
While HIQA still investigates specific complaints about hospital hygiene, its last national hygiene audit was conducted in 2009.
A number of individual hospital hygiene audits were conducted by the authority last year.
HIQA has a wide-ranging and heavy workload in investigating and setting standards in hospital care, health technology, nursing homes and child care.
A spokesperson for the authority stressed that its work had to be prioritised within available resources.
The Health Service Executive has given a commitment that it will implement the new standards.
The department stated yesterday that discussions with HIQA were ongoing to ensure resources were prioritised and “appropriate compliance with all standards is monitored in the context of overall resource allocation”.
It said that the control of healthcare associated infections continued to be a priority for both the HSE and the department.
It pointed out that recent performance indicators continued to show encouraging improvements in the area of infection prevention and control.
Reported incidents of the superbug MRSA had dropped by 48% between 2006 and 2010, with alcohol hand rub consumption, an important part of the hygiene effort, increasing by over 85% between 2006 and 2009.
