A HEALTH Service Executive investigation into the deaths of 15 patients at Ennis General Hospital over a six-month period has revealed they all had the Clostridium difficile superbug when they died.
The probe was prompted last year after it emerged there had been an increased incidence of the potentially fatal hospital-acquired infection among its patients.
It is understood that while none of the patients died as a direct result of the highly contagious infection, in some cases Clostridium difficile was quoted as a "contributory factor" on death certificates.
All 15 patients died in the first six months of 2007 and efforts were continuing last night to deliver the final report of the investigation to their families.
The HSE's assistant director of quality, risk and consumer affairs, Dr Mary Hynes, and Dr Kevin Kelleher, its assistant national director for health protection, visited Ennis General Hospital yesterday to discuss the report with local and regional management.
Last night the HSE confirmed it had carried out a review into an increased incidence of Clostridium difficile at Ennis General Hospital.
In a statement it said: "The first priority of the HSE is to its patients and it will be firstly communicating all available information directly to them and their families. The HSE intends to publish the review in full at the earliest possible opportunity. It is important to note that there is currently no issue in relation to the level of Clostridium difficile in Ennis General Hospital."
The Department of Health said it was aware the review had been completed by the HSE. It added: "The HSE is currently communicating with patients and their families as this is a priority in line with new policy".
This policy came into effect following the fiasco over the handling of a review of patient files without informing patients affected during the Portlaoise breast cancer controversy.
The number of patients picking up Clostridium difficile in Irish hospitals every year is not known because the infection is not notifiable. However, it is to be made notifiable from May 4th.
Data released under the Freedom of Information Act to this newspaper in 2006 indicated the infection was detected in 1,269 patients at 32 hospitals in 2005.
The HSE's chief executive Prof Brendan Drumm acknowledged at an Oireachtas health committee meeting in 2006 that the superbug was probably "a bigger killer" than MRSA.
More recently the infection has been mentioned at a number of inquests as the sole factor or a contributory factor in several patient deaths. Earlier this year an inquest in Dublin heard that a new virulent strain of the infection is of huge concern for hospitals across the country. Dr Tim McDonnell, a consultant respiratory physician at St Michael's Hospital in Dún Laoghaire, told an inquest that the lethal 027 strain of the bacteria will kill one in 12 patients.
Dublin county coroner Dr Kieran Geraghty has expressed alarm on a number of occasions at the high incidence of Clostridium difficile infection at St Columcille's Hospital, Loughlinstown, Dublin.