The CEO of the UL Hospitals Group has acknowledged the challenges posed by emergency department overcrowding in curbing the spread of superbugs.
Colette Cowan’s comments follow a report showing that the deaths of eight patients were linked to the potentially deadly CPE.
An external review, which followed concerns raised by a whistleblower, found that all had underlying health problems and none died directly from the bug.
Following an outbreak of CPE at UHL, a suite of new infection prevention and control measures were implemented, and there’s been no case of the bug there since 2014.
Ms Cowan insists those measures are balanced against the pressures in the hospital’s ED.
The HSE’s expert on hospital superbugs insists that despite the challenges in the system the majority of patients can be protected from infection.
Professor Martin Cormican attended the launch this week.
Professor Cormican, who is HSE National Lead for Health Care Associated Infection, says that while ED overcrowding is a concern, control measures can be implemented.
