Patients have more than a one-in-10 chance of picking up infections in an Irish hospital, according to a report in the latest edition of the Irish Medical Journal. These "super-bug" infections are costing the health services an extra £23.5 million each year. According to the authors, the Hospital Acquired Infection (HAI) rate in the State is approximately 11 per cent. The cost of HAI is very significant, and could be reduced by £7.5 million if the proper measures were taken in hospitals, Dr Robert Cunney, a lecturer in the Royal College of Surgeons and a registrar in Beaumount Hospital, said yesterday.
Patients, he explained, can pick up different types of infections in hospital which result in further treatment and longer hospital stays. There are no national figures for the incidence of HAI in Ireland; however, a study of 157 hospitals in the UK and the Republic showed an overall prevalence of 9 per cent, and 11.2 per cent for the seven Irish hospitals surveyed.
On average a single episode of HAI can cost £1,350 per patient, according to the article, which was also researched by Dr Edmond Smyth. The average excess stay has been estimated at 11 days for bloodstream infection.
A patient, said Dr Cunney, can be carrying a certain type of bacteria and infect themselves, particularly because they are in hospital. In the second case the bacteria comes from the environment; Methicillin Resistant Staph Aureus (MRSA) type infections, many of which are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics, are carried by other patients, staff and on surfaces. "There are strains that are increasingly resistant to a wide range of antibiotics which is very worrying. We have just heard that a particular antibiotic which has been successful in treating these infections is showing resistance in Japan."
Dr Cunney said that the study showing a 9 per cent infection rate was in hospitals with a full-time infection control team and the figure is probably higher in hospital without this resource.
Those most at risk from HAI are the elderly, the very young, those who spend long periods in hospital, those with underlying chronic conditions such as heart conditions or chronic bronchitis. It also spreads more quickly in older hospitals where there are big, open wards.