Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 115 of 6 November 2012, if he will provide end of year figures; if he will further provide corresponding figures for other notifiable hospital acquired infections; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6070/13]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy was advised in his previous Parliamentary Question reply, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) publishes quarterly data in arrears on bloodstream infections notified to it from all hospital laboratories, both public and private. Provisional statistics for 2012 to end-September 2012 were published on the HPSC's website on 19/12/2012 and are still subject to revision; full year statistics are not yet available but it is expected that data will be ready for publication by March 2013.

The information currently available on the number of cases of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureas (MRSA) and Clostridium Difficile (C. Diff.) notified by hospitals to the HPSC to end-September 2012 is:

MRSA: 174 cases

Clostridium Difficile: 1,285 cases.

This compares with 206 and 1,103 cases respectively for the same nine-month period in 2011.

A healthcare associated infection is an infection that is acquired after contact with the healthcare services. This is most frequently after treatment in a hospital, but can also happen after treatment in outpatient clinics, nursing homes and other healthcare settings. Healthcare associated infections that are picked up in hospital are also known as "hospital acquired infections". The HPSC collect, analyse and interpret large volumes of data on notifiable pathogens such as C. difficile, MRSA, E.coli and Carbapenem Resistant Enterobacteriaceae(CRE) originating from a variety of sources including hospitals and other healthcare settings. The Centre also co-ordinated the Point Prevalence Survey of Hospital-Acquired Infections & Antimicrobial Use in European Acute Care Hospitals 2012 . This survey, in which 50 Irish hospitals (42 public and 8 private) participated in May 2012, was carried out across all of the European Union Member States.

If the Deputy could specify the healthcare associated infection(s) of particular interest to him, my Department officials will, with the assistance of the HPSC, collate the data required without delay on receipt of the Deputy's additional queries.