Cancer patients with suppressed immune systems should be cared for in single hospital rooms with en suite shower and toilet facilities to minimise their risk of infection, the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland has recommended.
In a paper published today, the college points out that cancer patients are at an increased risk of hospital acquired infections because their immune defences have been impaired by the cancer and by the anti-cancer therapy. The paper points out that 20,000 people develop cancer in Ireland every year "and it is estimated that by 2020 there will be a 107 per cent increase compared with 2000".
Clinical microbiology professor and consultant microbiologist, Prof Hilary Humphreys, said 5 to 10 per cent of general patients would contract a healthcare-associated infection but cancer patients were at increased risk.
Patients with cancers that originated in the blood or immune system were particularly vulnerable, he said. Prof Humphreys said some patients could die from such infections but many more would have their treatment delayed until the infection was dealt with.
Consultant medical oncologist Prof Peter Daly said it was a "very sour experience" for a woman to have a breast cancer diagnosed and then to get a wound infection which may take weeks or months to heal. Further treatment could be delayed because of the infection, he said.
"Then there are other circumstances when a malignancy might potentially be curable but the cure has to be delivered within a timeframe for that to be achieved...and if that is delayed during its delivery that can have disastrous consequences," he said.
Prof Humphreys said the risk of infections could be minimised by simple measures such as hand hygiene, environmental hygiene, education and sensible use of antibiotics, but cancer patients needed additional supports such as single rooms. "We need to have better information and knowledge on what is occurring and what will be occurring amongst this group of patients so that we can intervene early to improve patient outcome."
Asked if hospital cutbacks would rule out the provision of single rooms to such patients, Prof Humphreys such investment would repay itself. "If you look at a healthcare associated infection that's preventable, you're often talking, at a ball park figure, of twice the cost, and sometimes twice the duration of stay for a patient," he said.
"Not only is prevention better than cure, but prevention is cheaper than actually the treatment of the infection."
