Hospitals have been given one year to introduce new guidelines to combat the spread of "healthcare associated infections” that were published today.
The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) published the 12 standards in a bid to minimise and prevent the occurrence of infections in health care services.
The guidelines cover issues such as governance and management; hand hygiene; medical device related infections; antibiotic resistance; staffing; the physical environment and disease control.
The standards will apply to all health and social care services in Ireland, including hospitals, community care services, GP and dental surgeries and primary care services.
Speaking at the launch, Jon Billings of the HIQA said reducing health-care infections is one of the ”most important challenges” facing health and social care services.
He said: “A major cultural shift by all health-care staff is required to help reduce the rates of these infections.
“The public and users of our services also have a significant role to play, through taking an active role in ensuring that they maintain personal diligence in hand hygiene and in challenging the implementation of these standards from people providing care”.
Hospitals will have one year to comply with the standards after which the HIQA will make both announced and unannounced inspections.
The Health Service Executive (HSE) said it welcomes the new standards saying “people should receive care in a clean environment where the risk of infection in constantly minimised.”
The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI) also welcomed the new standards.
In a statement, the RCPI said: "The standards, the first of their kind, represent a significant milestone in our efforts to tackle health-care associated infections in Ireland and to improve the safety and quality of patient care.
"The standards also represent a statement of intent by our health service in the prioritisation of this area for improvement and development."