Liver transplant patients at risk of infection - lessons have not been learned at St Vincent’s unit

Patients at the National Liver Transplant Unit at St Vincent’s University Hospital in Dublin continue to be at risk of contracting a serious bacterial infection, it has emerged.

The Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) found that lessons had not been learned from a previous outbreak of the antibiotic-resistant infection.

Hiqa identified a “high risk” of infection during an unannounced inspection of the 21-bed National Liver Transplant Unit in March this year. In particular, there has been an increased incident of hospital-acquired vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE).