The Department of Health has proposed that a financial levy should be imposed on hospitals by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to fund measures to tackle infections such as MRSA within hospitals.
The department believes that the reduction of the incidence of such infections would generate significant savings in the cost of service delivery as well as improving patient care.
The Irish Timesunderstands that the secretary general of the Department of Health, Michael Scanlan, proposed the introduction of an MRSA levy in a letter to the HSE several months ago.
Mr Scanlan said that the levy would give hospitals every incentive to ensure that savings were realised.
He suggested that measures to tackle healthcare-associated infections such as MRSA, including the appointment of anti-biotic pharmacists to bring about changes in prescribing behaviour, could effectively pay for themselves.
A Department of Health spokeswoman said that the MRSA levy proposal was still "live" although it had not been progressed as yet.
It has emerged that the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, wrote to the HSE in March expressing the Government's "deep concern" at the rate of healthcare-associated infections, including MRSA.
Ms Harney specifically directed the HSE to use private beds as isolation facilities for patients who contract infections such as MRSA.
The HSE said that this instruction was being acted upon.
Neither Ms Harney's letter expressing the Government's concern about MRSA or Mr Scanlan's correspondence was revealed at the time by the Department of Health.
The correspondence predated the announcement by the HSE of an action plan to reduce MRSA and other such infections by between 20 and 30 per cent over the next three to five years.
In his letter to the HSE, Mr Scanlan said that the prevention and management of infections such as MRSA should be a central element of the everyday business of healthcare provision.
He said that "healthcare activities should not take place without all steps being taken to reduce the chances of harming patients".
Mr Scanlan said that the Department of Health perceived the 5 per cent prevalence of healthcare-acquired infections in hospitals as having the following effects: one in 20 patients admitted to hospitals becomes infected with potentially severe health consequences, bed occupancy rates are higher than they should be, hindering improvements in A&E and elective services, extra personnel, facilities and pharmaceutical resources are consumed while the reputation of hospitals as a safe location for treatment is undermined.
Mr Scanlan told the HSE chief executive, Prof Brendan Drumm,that the issue of how MRSA and healthcare-associated infections were addressed would be a real test of the Government's health service reform programme.
"In the past , the tendency may have been for the health boards to insist upon getting extra funding for this type of issue," he added.
"The value of the reform programme will be evident if the HSE can demonstrate that it has the capacity as an organisation to invest in healthcare-associated infections from within its core funding and core staff on the basis that this investment can and should be funded by resultant savings that will arise," Mr Scanlan said.
The HSE action plan aims to reduce infection rates by between 20 and 30 per cent and reduce antibiotic consumption by 20 per cent.
The HSE is to appoint 52 additional staff to improve infection-control measures and antibiotic prescribing. It is also planning to invest in more single rooms in hospitals as well as in expanded isolation facilities.
