Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 206: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the regulations in place for the monitoring and auditing of the occurrence of meticillin resistant staphylococcus aureus, MRSA, in private hospitals; if it is intended to make adjustments in these regulations; the requirements placed on private hospitals to publish the results of the monitoring and auditing of MRSA; if she will legislate to make public the reports of the monitoring and auditing of MRSA cases in private hospitals; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10154/08]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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Under the Infection Diseases (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2003 (S.I. No. 707 of 2003), Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia is listed as a notifiable infectious disease. Diagnostic laboratories are required to report notifiable diseases to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre. The data relates to the first isolate per patient per quarter and the information includes whether the isolates are meticillin resistant (Meticillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus — MRSA). This data is recorded in the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (EARSS) and is published quarterly on the Health Protection Surveillance Centre website. All 44 microbiology laboratories in Irish hospitals are reporting this data into the system. This includes 8 laboratories based in private hospitals, and a number of public laboratories serving other private hospitals. Thus all acute hospitals, both public and private, participate in EARSS.