Paddy McHugh (Galway East, Independent)
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Question 132: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if a redress board will be set up to compensate MRSA victims and their families; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35877/06]

Paddy McHugh (Galway East, Independent)
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Question 141: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if a judicial inquiry will be held into the non-implementation of the national guidelines contained in the 1995 Control of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus in the Irish Health Care Setting, the non-supervised full implementation and non-compliance by hospitals and health care settings with the 2005 strategy for the control of antimicrobial resistance in Ireland and the failure to supervise the full implementation of that strategy; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35941/06]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 132 and 141 together.

My Department has no plans at present to set up a judicial enquiry or a redress board to compensate people who have contracted MRSA. The control of Health Care Associated Infections (HCAIs) including MRSA continues to be a priority for the HSE. Measures to control the emergence and spread of HCAIs are necessary because there are fewer options available for the treatment of resistant infections and because these strains spread amongst vulnerable at-risk patients. The prudent use of antibiotics underpins any approach to the control of antibiotic resistant bacteria, including MRSA. This, together with good professional practice and routine infection control precautions, such as hand hygiene, constitute the major measures in controlling and preventing health care-associated infection, including that caused by MRSA, both in hospital and in community health care units.

The implementation 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 also aimed at addressing the challenges presented by HCAIs.