Cleaning staff in hospitals must now be asked to work around the clock, the president of the Irish Nurses' Organisation said last night.
Madeline Spiers said cleaning staff were needed in hospitals not just between 8am and 5pm.
Her comments came in the wake of the publication of the first national audit of hygiene standards in acute hospitals, which found the majority do not reach acceptable standards.
Ms Spiers said she was not surprised by the findings of the audit.
"Nurses in most of the hospitals have been calling out for an audit for years, so we are delighted that this has come and we are also very pleased that it's not a one-off, that it will be followed up in 2006 by a second audit."
Groups representing patients said the report provided hard evidence of what they have been saying for years.
Stephen McMahon of the Irish Patients Association said patients were phoning his organisation every day with stories of people who had picked up MRSA in hospital. Lack of hygiene is a major factor in the spread of hospital- acquired infections.
"We are pleased that at least both the public, and indeed the health system itself, now knows the truth," he said. "These are startling results. There are huge challenges to be overcome.
"We are calling in the interests of patients that everybody works together, that there is no finger-pointing, but that everybody works together from tomorrow morning to ensure that our hospitals are clean and safe for patients."
Janette Byrne of Patients Together, which has complained about poor hygiene standards in hospitals since it was formed a year ago, said she was not at all surprised by the findings. The report mirrored what patients had been saying for months.
"I hope they act on it quickly, everything takes so long," she said. She added that while the Government might "clap itself on the back" for ordering the audit, it was the same Government which "sat back and watched things get so bad".
Ruth Murdiff from Athboy, Co Meath, whose husband had MRSA and died last year at a Dublin hospital, attended the launch of the report and described its contents as damning.
Fine Gael's health spokesman Dr Liam Twomey said the Government must accept responsibility for allowing patient care to be compromised by falling standards in our hospitals.
Patients hearing the results of the audit would be fearful for their safety in Ireland's hospitals, he said.
"What is shocking about today's report on hospital hygiene is just how bad things are. The fact is that, after the billions spent on our health services, half of the country's hospitals would be closed down in the morning if the standards applied to restaurants and meat factories were applied to them," he added.
Labour's health spokeswoman Liz McManus called for rigorous monitoring of hygiene standards in all hospitals, both public and private.
She said she was disturbed by the audits findings. "That our hospitals, the places where we go to be cured rather than infected, should not uniformly operate the same hygiene standards is shocking."
John Gormley, the Green Party's health spokesman, said the audit was "further evidence of the shocking decline in hospital standards".