Public enquiry launched
Thursday, 16 October 2008
THE decision by the Minister for Health, Michael McGimpsey to hold a public enquiry into the outbreak of C Difficile in the Northern Health and Social Care Trust area, has been welcomed this week.
In a statement to the Assembly, the Minister said that having received the final report from the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority, a number of questions still remained unanswered.
Figures state that from July 2007 to August 2008, more than 60 deaths were linked to the bug. Health Minister Michael McGimpsey told the assembly that even after receiving a report from a regulatory body, questions remain, and added that it is still unclear how many people died as a result of the outbreak.
"I want to restore public confidence in the safety and quality of healthcare," he said.
"I believe we need to hear from the people who have suffered as a result of this outbreak, that is, the patients who contracted the infection, their families and the people who lost loved ones. "We owe it to them to provide an opportunity to have their voices heard and we need to listen to their accounts so that we can learn from their experiences.
"For these reasons, I have decided to hold a public inquiry that will examine these questions. I will advise the assembly in due course of the terms of reference and the membership of the inquiry team."
He said the Department of Health would "get on" with implementing the 17 recommendations in the review of the outbreak, carried out by Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority.
Mr McGimspey said that the Northern Trust appeared to be as well prepared as any other trust in Northern Ireland to deal with an outbreak, according to the report.
"However, the review also found that the trust did not have good systems in place to ensure that policies adopted by the trust board were being implemented and observed at ward level," he added. "For example, an antibiotic policy was in place but there were problems with adherence to it."
Welcoming the news, Mr Leonard said: "This inquiry is needed as we literally had deaths in our hospitals when people should have been there to improve their health. We must learn form this episode and improve the overall situation.
“The 16 deaths included patients in the Causeway Hospital here in Coleraine. Sinn Féin called for a public enquiry and the Minister has now answered that call.
"Any such inquiry must however be able to inform the families of the patients who died how their loved ones contracted this bug and also what caused such a large number of deaths.
"There must also be firm outcomes from this inquiry such as measures to ensure that strict hygiene and screening regimes are established. It is unacceptable that so many people entering hospital for treatment of their existing health problems run the risk of contracting life threatening 'bugs' through poor hospital hygiene."
