David Norris (Independent)

In reiterating the calls made by Senators yesterday for a debate on the health service, I would like to emphasise one aspect of it. Somebody must have been listening to what was said yesterday when a number of Senators, including myself, raised the question of hospital hygiene. It is worrying that, according to the report published yesterday, a large number of people die from hospital-acquired infections. When I was watching television last night, I discovered that despite the proliferation of managers and systems in the health service, we do not have precise figures for the level of mortality that results from hospital-acquired infections. It is astonishing that the health service authorities have admitted that we do not know how many people actually die. We learned in this morning's newspapers that our hospitals are not just dirty — they are actually filthy. Just seven of this country's 51 public hospitals are rated as "good", the vast majority — 35 — are "fair" and nine are "poor", which means they are really dirty and dangerous. Is anybody surprised?