John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Question 255: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the progress made by her Department to date in 2006 relative to the issues raised regarding MRSA by the group MRSA and families; if the submission made by representatives of this group to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children has been examined or acted upon; if the work of a doctor (details supplied) in the UK regarding the control of MRSA in hospitals and the community will be examined to determine the assistance here; if the doctor will be consulted by her Department or the Health Service Executive; her views on the rise of MRSA cases; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5063/06]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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Following from my meeting with the group MRSA and Families, I wrote to Professor Drumm, chief executive of the Health Service Executive, HSE, on the issues raised by the relatives and victims of MRSA at our meeting. In relation to the communication of information to patients infected with MRSA, my Department understands that the HSE intends to issue a direction to hospitals on this matter. The HSE is reviewing the national policy on hospital visiting times with a view to issuing revised guidance to hospitals. With regard to the discharge from hospital of patients with MRSA, the HSE is considering how best to ensure that good practice and the proper procedures are followed in all such cases.

This year Ireland will participate in the Hospital Infection Society's prevalence survey of health care associated infections to be carried out in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The survey will provide the Department and the HSE with accurate and comparable data on the prevalence of health care associated infections, including MRSA, in acute hospitals in Ireland. The data gathered from hospitals can also be used to compare with similar data being obtained in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The publication of the revised SARI Guidelines on the Control and Prevention of MRSA in Hospitals and in the Community, the clean hands campaign, the national hygiene audits and the development of national standards in relation to infection control and hospital hygiene are some of the measures aimed at bringing about change in the hospital system. The HSE has announced that the second national hygiene audit of acute hospitals will commence in February and will assess the extent of the improvements made at hospital level since the publication of the first audit report.

It is now a matter for the HSE to continue to develop and implement the necessary strategies needed to ensure the effective control of health care associated infections. My Department has requested the parliamentary affairs division of the executive to reply directly to the Deputy in relation to the work undertaken in the UK by the doctor mentioned.