Expert stresses 'team work' to combat MRSA

An expert on infection control has said the behaviour that enables hospital infections such as MRSA to spread needs to change if Ireland is to reduce infection rates.

Dr Ian Hosein, director of infection control and prevention at the Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust, was responsible for reducing the rate of MRSA bloodstream infection by 60 per cent in Wales.

Dr Hosein has increased audit ratings for general hygiene to 97 per cent (from 47 per cent) since 2001.

He told a public lecture in the Gresham Hotel, Dublin, that the behavioural aspects of healthcare needed to be addressed. He attributed his success to applying modern management theory to prioritise cleanliness and using team work to control the infection rates.

The first National Hygiene Audit for hospitals last November discovered that 91 per cent of Irish hospitals were failing to meet acceptable hygiene standards.

Only five of 54 hospitals audited met the required standard.

Waterford Regional Hospital, Beaumont Hospital and St Columcille, Loughlinstown, both in Dublin, were revealed to be the dirtiest in the State.

Organising support group MRSA and Families invited nurses, hospital management and cleaning staff to the lecture, but the group is understood to have been disappointed at the 20 per cent turnout.