New Hygiene Guidelines for Irish Hospitals

Public hospitals and other health facilities in Ireland have one year to comply with a new set of mandatory hygiene standards that were published today. And to begin with, they have now six months to "produce an analysis of how they are currently complying or not complying with the standards".

The Health Information & Quality Authority (HIQA) will conduct both announced and unannounced inspections "to ensure that all hospitals meet the twelve new standards".

They cover areas such as hand hygiene, medical device infections, antibiotic resistance, physical environment and disease control.
In other words, they demand behaviour that most people would regard as common sense.

Jon Billings, the HIQA's 'Director of Healthcare Quality' (now there is some title to behold!) says that "most of the standards are straightforward to implement with changes in culture, behaviour, planning, management and leadership".
Or, as I mentioned already above, by using simple common sense.

The first facilities to be "targeted" for inspections are expected to be Ireland's acute hospitals. But the system will also apply to GP and dental surgeries as well as community care facilities.

The HIQA will then "publish the findings on how the inspected institutions are complying with the new rules".

Well, this is just what we need, isn't it? Another quango full of overpaid bureaucrats, producing big reports that no-one will read or act upon. All financed by you and me - the Irish taxpayers.
And at the same time wards are closed because there are not enough doctors and nurses!

The interesting aspect is that private hospitals are exempt from the HIQA inspections. Another proof for the unfair and unacceptable two-tier system in Ireland's healthcare.

According to the government, "it is expected that private facilities will come under the HIQA inspection system when planned legislation, arising from the Commission on Patient Safety & Quality Assurance (another one of Bertie Ahern's useless quangos) comes into force".

And when that will be is anyone's guess. Given the usually slow speed with which Dáil Éireann progresses in normal legislation, it might not even happen in my lifetime.

The Emerald Islander

Investigation into Ennis Hospital announced

An investigation into services provided at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Ennis, Co. Clare has been announced by the Minister for Health, Mary Harney (photo left).

The review of care at the hospital will be conducted by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) - another of the many faceless quangos created by Bertie Ahern - and will include "issues which arose from the misdiagnosis of the late Ann Moriarty and Edel Kelly", who both died earlier this year after being treated wrongly at the hospital in 2007.

"The purpose of the HIQA inquiry is to review patient services at the hospital with a particular reference to diagnosis and 'follow-up' of patients", the Minister said.
The communications system inside the hospital will also come under review.

Speaking in the Dáil, Minister Harney also announced that the Health Service Executive (HSE) is now "making arrangements for patients who attended breast clinics within the last two years and who did not get a diagnosis of cancer but who have concerns in light of recent events".
She said that "any woman who is concerned should contact their GP who will make a 're-referral' to a specialised breast clinic".

The Minister said while there is every reason to believe they would be given the correct assessment, "it is important to give patients the option of the specialised referral service".

Meanwhile, Ms. Kelly's parents are to meet the Minister next Monday. The Kelly family's solicitor said they met the Chief Executive of the HSE, Professor Brendan Drumm, last night.

Prof. Drumm has stated that there may be more cases of misdiagnosis of breast cancer across Ireland. His comments followed a renewed call for an independent inquiry as it emerged that a third case of cancer misdiagnosis looks likely to materialise at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Ennis (photo above).

(see also my entry from yesterday)

At a meeting of the Western Health Forum in Galway, Prof. Drumm said he had been made aware of the case yesterday and it still has to be validated.

John McCormack of the Irish Cancer Society said it was vital that patients were reassured about the effectiveness of the system.

Sadly the words effectiveness and system do seldom match in Ireland under the incompetent government we have now for more than a decade.

The Emerald Islander