Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 250: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the number of cases of an infection (details supplied) that were recorded in 2007 and to date in 2008; the number of cases identified in each hospital in the country; the number of claims that have been taken against the Health Service Executive in this regard; the claims that have been settled; and the amount that has been paid out in compensation to date. [46821/08]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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Tackling all Health Care Associated Infections (HCAIs), including MRSA, continues to be a priority for the Government and the Health Service Executive (HSE). HCAIs are not a new phenomenon and have always been a potential complication of medical treatment, especially in hospitals. This is the case worldwide.

It should be noted that if a patient is diagnosed with a bloodstream infection at a given hospital, it does not indicate that the infection was acquired at that hospital. Many bloodstream infections are acquired in the community, but only diagnosed upon admission to hospital. Or, a patient may have acquired the infection in one hospital, but the infection may be diagnosed on transfer to another hospital.

A new National Surveillance System has been established by the HSE to collect data and provide information on a quarterly basis to monitor HCAIs in our health system. This data has been compiled and published for 2006, 2007 and the first 2 quarters of 2008. I attach in table format an extract of the relevant information for the Deputy, taken from the recent reports of the Health Protection Surveillance Centre. The table gives the number of MRSA bloodstream isolates by acute public hospital for 2007 and the first 6 months of 2008. Most of the variation in reported numbers of S. aureus bloodstream infections between hospitals can be explained by differences in hospital size, activity and patient populations. At present there is no way to adjust the data to allow for these differences and hence direct comparisons between hospitals are not possible.

The State Claims Agency handles all MRSA claims against individual hospitals in the public sector, the HSE and/or the Minister for Health and Children. There are currently 98 alleged healthcare associated infection claims and to date one case has been settled. It will be appreciated that each case has it own complexities and there are issues involved beyond MRSA. It is policy not to divulge either the details or amounts concerned in individual cases.