37,000 people killed by hospital infections in Europe each year, says group

HOSPITAL infections directly kill a staggering 37,000 people annually in Europe and cost already stretched healthcare budgets an estimated €5.5 billion a year, according to a leading healthcare body.

Up to 12% of patients suffer as a result of their treatment or infections caught in hospitals, but with proper management this could be reduced by 40% over the next few years, a conference organised by Health First Europe was told.

The organisation’s honorary president, former Dublin MEP Mary Banotti said a code of practice should be introduced across all EU member states to prevent and control hospital infections.

The latest figures from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control estimates that as well as infections being directly responsible for about 37,000 deaths annually, they contribute to a further 110,000 across the EU.

The burden on healthcare systems is immense, resulting in an additional 16 million days of hospital stays a year. “Assuming the average daily cost of a hospital stay is e334, the total annual healthcare cost for the EU 27 can be estimated at e5.5bn — and this does not include the indirect costs such as loss of income or the intangible costs associated with physical and emotional suffering,” said MEP Liz Lynne.

The body says EU countries should exchange best practice examples and member state governments should agree to an across the board 40% reduction in infections by 2015. Patients should also have access to information on safety standards in whatever member state they wish to have treatment, she added.

The conference heard of success stories where, for instance, in one British hospital MRSA bacteria was reduced by 80% over a 12-month period when they implemented innovative medical technology that provides pre-admission MRSA screening test results in several hours rather than days, as was the case with the previous method.

“By using this rapid test we are effectively saving lives,” Julian Hartley, chief executive of the Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre NHS Foundation Trust, said.

In Ireland, the Health Service Executive earlier this year said there had been a 25% drop in MRSA infection rates in hospitals over the past three years. If the trend continues the HSE said they believed they could achieve their 30% reduction target before a 2012 date it had set.