GuidelinesMRSA is widespread in many Irish hospitals and is increasingly seen in nursing homes, according to a report published yesterday.Superbug increasingly seen in nursing homes
The report, from a committee representative of the Health Protection Surveillance Centre and the Irish Society of Clinical Microbiologists among others, says that while improvements in controlling the antibiotic resistant superbug are possible, current resources "are inadequate to achieve this".
It says the appointment of more microbiologists, infection control nurses and laboratory scientists is required.
The report sets out guidelines for the control and prevention of MRSA in hospitals and the community and among its main recommendations are that healthcare workers ensure they wash their hands before and after each contact with patients.
In addition it says "every hospital and healthcare institution must take steps to prevent patient overcrowding and ensure adequate space between adjacent beds".
The Minister for Health Mary Harney who launched the guidelines, said she did not accept this was impossible. "It is a fact that for several procedures people are probably spending longer in the acute hospital system in Ireland than is the case in other countries," she said.
The report also stressed the importance of isolating patients with MRSA wherever possible and it urged hospitals to limit the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics. Other recommendations made include early detection of MRSA through screening patients, treating patients colonised with MRSA before they undergo surgery, and having good communication between hospitals discharging patients with MRSA and families to minimise spread of infection.
Ms Harney said "patients have to be and should be told as a matter of course if they have MRSA". The lobby group MRSA and Families claims many patients learn by chance they have MRSA and claim it is being covered up by hospitals.
Also yesterday, Ms Harney launched guidelines on hand hygiene in healthcare settings. She stressed it cost nothing for health professionals to wash their hands and this would minimise spread of infections. "When I tell people to do something as basic as wash their hands I don't expect people to tell me they don't have the money to do so," she said.
Furthermore she said visitors to hospital had to be aware they themselves could spread infection by bringing food such as burgers and chips into hospitals.
There were around 550 cases of MRSA blood stream infections reported in the Republic last year and figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show there were also thousands more patients found to be colonised with MRSA in Irish hospitals last year.
While colonisation with the bug does not make a patient ill, the chairman of the group that drew up these latest recommendations Prof Hilary Humphreys of the faculty of pathology at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, said colonisations should be taken seriously.
"I think we need to know if patients are carrying it and the patients need to know themselves, and we need to try and control that," he said. This was because it had the potential to spread to other patients, he added.
MRSA or methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus can be fatal if it gets into the blood, which it can in patients with open wounds after surgery.