Value for Money?

A new set of draft standards for infection prevention and control, has been published by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA). HIQA was established in May 2007 as an independent Authority, with broad ranging functions and powers, reporting to the Minister for Health. It was set up to drive safety, quality, accountability and the best use of resources in our health and social care services. Our present health service is neither efficient nor cost effective, it swallows up vast sums of money with poor return. HIQA aims to correct this imbalance and deliver value for your money.

The new standards once finalised, will provide a national framework to improve the performance of healthcare settings in order to reduce healthcare associated infections (HCAI’s). These standards are a key component in ensuring quality and safety. As Eithne Donnellan reports in the Irish Times today, “the standards cover accountability, hand hygiene, reducing infection from medical instruments, surveillance of infections, having appropriate multidisciplinary infection-control teams in place which reflect the size and specialities of a facility, informing patients immediately of their infection status, and management of outbreaks“. HIQA now wishes to consult with interested parties and the general public before drawing up a final set of standards to be published later this year. Everyone has a right to have their view considered and submissions can be made online here to the Authority until the 18th July, 2008. HIQA envisages having the standards finalised and ready for ministerial approval by September.

I’m really pleased to see that the Department of Health is taking infection prevention and control extremely seriously but I’m not convinced that we’re getting value for money. You see, I’m aware that the HSE published an updated set of comprehensive guidelines back in 2005, called “A Strategy for the Control of Antimicrobial Resistance in Ireland ( SARI)” but these guidelines, which have a marked similarity to the new standards drawn up by HIQA, were never implemented. It was publicly acknowledged by the HSE at the time that the guidelines failed because of inadequate resources, sub-optimal infrastructure and a lack of access to relevant expertise locally. Has anything changed in the interim, I ask? Forgive me if I’m wrong, but it seems to me that there’s very little new about the report published yesterday other than the change of name. I’d love to know how much it’s cost to date. Meanwhile, the health service continues to struggle on with it’s inadequate resources and sub-optimal conditions. HIQA faces a hard task ahead.