Madam, - In response to your recent correspondence on the HSE's current information campaign on hand hygiene, I would like to make some brief points about healthcare-associated infections (HCAI). These infections, like MRSA, are a feature of health care internationally, and while we will never eradicate them entirely, there is much that can be and is being done to tackle and reduce them.
The HSE's national infection control team is driving the necessary changes to control the levels of infection in hospitals in Ireland. We are targeting the root causes of this problem: first, changing how we use antibiotics; second, changing hand hygiene behaviour among both health workers and in the public; and finally, providing better physical facilities in hospitals to control infection.
The HSE's current public information campaign is only one part of this major body of work, and says that patients should ask one important and easy question of their healthcare workers: Have you cleaned your hands? While hospital hygiene and infrastructure is clearly important, evidence shows that hand hygiene is the single most effective defence against the spread of MRSA. We hope the public education messages we are broadcasting will help to reassure everyone in the hospital that high standards are a priority.
To effect the improvements that are needed, we have to work to enforce hand hygiene standards, train our staff, educate patients and visitors, and provide facilities that support clean and safe environments. - Yours, etc,
Dr KEVIN KELLEHER, Assistant National Director, Population Health - Health Protection, Health Service Executive, Limerick.