The country's first national hospital hygiene audit is to be carried out in July and August, it emerged today.
Mary Harney
An experienced UK consultancy, which won a publicly-tendered contract, will assess standards in every hospital and then publish its findings.
Health Minister Mary Harney said inspectors would be checking for general hand hygiene practices, isolation facilities and protocols for the screening and detection of the MRSA superbug.
“I'm not satisfied that the standards of hygiene that people are entitled to expect in our hospitals are being maintained,” said Ms Harney.
“There is no excuse for the standards of hygiene that apply in some of our hospitals. It's not an issue of money or resources.”
The Tánaiste said the MRSA superbug was currently a high-profile public health issue because more laboratories were capable of reporting its incidence. Last year saw 553 cases while 145 have been logged for the first quarter of 2005.
“I want to see that dramatically reduced,” she told RTE Radio.
She said she was currently taking legal advice on the mandatory reporting of MRSA cases in hospitals.
The Netherlands and Scandinavian countries have the best record on hospital hygiene and Ireland needed to learn from them, Ms Harney said.
“We are going to pursue this issue until we reach the highest possible international standards. We will settle for nothing less than the standards than the standards that apply in the Netherlands and Scandinavian countries.
“We've got to benchmark ourselves against those,” she added. Ongoing inspections to maintain the standards will be enforced by the National Hospitals Office and the forthcoming Health Information and Quality Authority.
The minister will announce an initiative shortly that will make more beds into the hospital system through the private sector.
“It's the quickest way we'll get more beds on stream over the next few years,” she added.