St. Vincent's Hospital
Patients at the National Liver Transplant Unit at St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin were at risk of contracting the superbug, a damning inspector's report has found.
Hika's report after the unannounced tests found that the patients were at risk of contracting VRE, a serious bacteria that is resistant to antibiotics.
The inspection took place on March 30. Inspectors said the hospital had not acted on what it had learned from the 2014 outbreak to reduce the risk to patients.
The hospital said the national liver transplant unit at St Bridget's ward had poor infrastructure and equipment and did not adequately protect patients from the risk of infection.
Inspectors found a shortage of dedicated isolation rooms for patients, and not all of the private rooms used for isolation had private showers or toilets.
Patients colonized with resistant bacteria shared medicines with patients not colonized with resistant bacteria.
Multi-bed rooms had limited space between patients.
Testing also found an increase in VRE infections identified at the hospital in 2014 and 2015.
In 2014, the hospital was the first in Ireland to report an outbreak of linezolid-resistant VRE infection in a national liver transplant unit.
The hospital said its practice of housing patients in multiple-person rooms and sharing toilets likely contributed to the spread of the infection.
St Vincent's Hospital told Hika that it recognises the incidence of VRE and the infrastructure at St Brigid's ward are significant issues.
The hospital also said it was addressing the issues within the limits of its budgetary allocation and also dealing with pressures arising from a shortage of beds in the face of increasing clinical demand.
The hospital said it has taken several measures to reduce the threat of VRE, including increased testing, isolating patients in single rooms and grouping patients with established infections together.
